Blinded
by Ayokaya
Summary: Izaya's known for manipulating his surroundings just for fun. But what if there's an ulterior motive buried in his past that makes him act the way he does. Will Shizuo understand and break hostility with his arch-enemy? Violence & Angst, for Shizaya: fluffy & later lemons
1. Chapter 1: Reunion

**Author's Note: **

**This is my first ff. I don't own Drrr, but created several OC's and I changed Izaya's past a lot. Rating M for later Shizaya and parts with cruelty and brutality. English isn't my first languange. If you find any mistakes, message me and I'll correct them. **

**That's it. Enjoy reading ;)**

* * *

**Blinded**

"Deep vengeance is the daughter of deep silence."

(Vittorio Alfieri)

**Chapter 1: Reunion**

"Yes, I settled everything~" A smile appeared on the Informant's face while he was holding his phone next to his ear. With lightly dancing steps he strolled around one of Ikebukuro's most popular streets ignoring the strange looks he got for his behavior.

Today had been a good day. He had been able to take care of all his important clients in Ikebukuro and had successfully avoided to ran into one certain blonde debt collector. Although he enjoyed his little encounters with the beast of Ikebukuro, he was relieved that today had been more or less peaceful. Some of his clients had been a little complicated like always though, but that still wasn't a reason for him to be any less happy. It seemed that nothing could change this already perfect day. The conference that was supposed to take place in the evening was only the tip of the iceberg.

"I hope so for you. I don't want any surprises to happen this evening." The voice on the other end of the call didn't sound as convinced as the Information Broker, but Izaya just laughed at the seriousness of the voice and it's implied threat.

"Shiki-san, have a little trust in me~ I checked their whole digital network. Be certain that, if they are really going to plan to do harm to you, I'll be the first one to know it. Nothing will go unnoticed between them - no SMS, no e-mail, no phone call - without me knowing about it~"

It wasn't like he had put some _extra _effort just for Shiki in his work when it came to the upcoming conference. Izaya didn't really care enough for the other man to be concerned whether the guy would be going to die or not. If every little Yakuza member in this world died in some kind of war between the different gangs, he wouldn't give a damn about it at all - Although Shiki had a special position in his heart compared to the other Yakuza members.

But Izaya would also be there this evening, so it wasn't really in his mind to let anything unpredicted happen. Not that this was actually possible. There was more than one reason why he was known to be the most talented Information Broker in Tokyo, some people rumored even in whole Japan. But there was one sole reason that surpassed all others and gave certainty to his words: He had never failed.

Of course, he'd never had. As harmless as some people might have seen the organized gang crime in Ikebukuro, there were a lot of people that weren't actually easy to play with and Izaya Orihara would already be dead if he hadn't known how to handle them. Also his genius didn´t play a lower role for his success.

"You're right. After all, you never disappointed me."

Izaya chuckled when he heard the sigh of relaxation on the other end of the call. He could swear that Shiki was smiling right now, when he understood that his doubts were indeed unnecessary. "Right, I never did. I expect you to be relaxed this evening, too. It will only compel attention if you sit there like a nervous wreck~"

"Right, right. See you there then." And with these friendly spoken words the call ended.

Izaya was content, when he heard Shiki finally laugh at his earlier warbled words. He seemed to be back to his usual self treating Izaya more like a friend than a colleague. Although Izaya liked him and had often enjoyed talking to him, he wouldn't go as far as calling him a friend. Therefore the man was involved in too many underground deals that weren't in Izaya's favor. Nonetheless he became full of excitement and anticipation thinking about the meeting that would take place in only a few hours.

Still smiling, he decided to stroll around the streets of Ikebukuro a little longer when suddenly something hard and metallic hit the side of his head and threw him off his feet before he landed on the cold and hard ground.

"IZAAYAAA-KUN!"

_Shit! And the day has been so peaceful until now_~ he thought slowly trying to stand up, breathing sharp when he felt the pain in his head going suddenly through his whole body. After the pain had eased a bit, he rose up to look in the direction from where the enraged blond was approaching him with wide steps.

"Didn't I tell you to _never_ come back to Ikebukuro again, you fucking louse!?"

"Ahh~ Shizu-chan. What a way to make me look at you. I know that you seek my attention but that's not how you show someone your love. Want to have another try?~"

Izaya's smile grew wider when he saw the lightly reddening of Shizuo's face, just before it became one grimace of pure rage.

_Oh, seemed I hit a button. _Slightly amused how the expression of the beast could change that fast, he still noticed the growing danger he was in. Normally Izaya would have taken out one of his switchblades now, but the thought of the upcoming conference stopped him in his tracks. He still needed to look convincing in front of the other members this evening and not like a dummy with bruises and cuts. That would just make him seem to be immature and unprofessional. Immediately he decided to take the opposite way and run for it. The beast might be enraged but that wasn't the first time this happened and he still had never managed to get hold of him.

"How much I would like to continue our love game, but I have to take care of some other stuff now. Bye Bye, Shizu-chan~" He said dashing off in one cramped alley, jumping over houses, thrown street sights and trashcans, knowing that the beast would follow him until one of them would flag or the beast would finally lose sight of him.

* * *

"When you said I had to work until you come back, I didn't think you'd come back _that_ late."

"But Namie, I worked at the risk of my life out there!"

"Wasn't that your own fault?"

"Oh, so mean~"

Namie was still working on the rest of the documents, while Izaya stayed in his bedroom trying to find a suitable outfit for the meeting in the evening. Their conversation took place over the floor without facing each other.

"I mean, what's the point in always annoying Shizuo Heiwajima?"

"Hey, it's him who's so easily to anger. I'm not annoying him at all~"

"Oh, please, you're a pain in the neck!" Izaya smiled at that comment.

"I see, that you're as subtle as ever~"

He had finally changed into something in his opinion decent, when he left the bedroom and faced Namie, who was about to stand up from her desk and leave.

"Now, what do you think?~" He went down the stairs turning round in a circle, when he finally reached her. Her look went from top to toe of his body, before she sighed.

"If your purpose is to attract perverted, old guys, that are looking for easy, young prey, then: Congratulations! This outfit will serve it." She answered finally.

"Oh, Namie. Hurts!~"

It was more or less true, what she was saying. The white shirt and the black jeans weren`t more noticeable than others, when they were seen in a normal store, but the difference made the effect, they had when Izaya wore them. They were cut in a form, that his body shape was accentuated in a sensual way. He tried to increase that effect with the unbuttoning of the topmost buttons of the shirt.

He knew that, he would probably capture the looks of most people around him in this outfit, but he wanted to attract attention at the conference - and the easiest way for that was to look better than the rest after all. Well, if it brought any "perverted" ideas to the people, he'd just go past and ignore them. But the participants at the conference weren't normal people, but respected men. Of course they would recognize him in this appearance, but they would never try to pick him up. That's why, he wasn't really concerned about it.

"Well, you probably don't know, but this is the best way to receive information~"

"Very respectable of you: attract people with your body to get information, which you'll sell later. How slutty."

"Remember that this is also how you're paid, Namie, my love~"

She snorted contemptuous at those words. Her working day was over already and she didn't feel the need to stretch this conversation.

Though her "boss" was still standing in front of her smiling his little shit-eating grin, she took her handbag and went past him.

"I don't care what happens to you. At least come back alive. I don't want to end being unemployed." And with that she closed the door behind her.

* * *

Evening had finally arrived and Shizuo had decided to go to the next convenience store before he would go home. Although he was pretty tired after the long working day, the thought of his nearly empty fridge maid his stomach growl.

When he entered his apartment the feeling of a gaping void hit his face. Though his living room wasn't empty or cheerful in any way, it felt lonely and lifeless. He didn't like to spend too much time at home alone. More likely he would run around with Tom, chat with Celty or even chase the flea.

_The flea!_ Just the thought of the other guy enraged him again and he threw the bag with ingredients, he had just bought, at the couch after he had closed the door with too much force. Why did this guy always need to provoke him? After all, he had told him several times that he didn't want to see the louse in Ikebukuro, but still ...!

And then that shit the flea had talked earlier! Pah, he didn't want his attention! Why should he?! Shizuo would be the most grateful guy in the world, when the stupid flea would just disappear from this world.

While he took out his new cigarettes Shizuo thought about the rest of his day. Yeah, there had been that Izaya bastard that made him boil with hate and fury, but all in all the streets of Ikebukuro had been more peaceful than usual.

Normally he would at least meet some other members of the different gangs in Ikebukuro, pissing him off or just starting a fight with him out of nowhere.

Often he had also seen some strange guys in black or white suits with dark sunglasses that had been hiding in the corners of the shady alleys, definitely observing him. They had pissed him off too, but he had never fought any of them. Most times he saw them, when he was going around with Tom and in front of a friend he didn't want to hurt anyone without any obvious reason.

But today nothing like that had happened.

_Strange ..._He thought. A depressing nervousness started to grow inside of him. He let himself fall on the couch and lit one of the cigarettes while taking a deep breath. He felt how his tense muscles could finally relax.

_Just like the silence before the storm_. The thought poked an uneasy feeling inside of him. He let out a deep sigh before he took the remote control and turned on the TV.

Outside the rain and dark clouds prevented the look on the beautiful stars behind them.

* * *

It had grown dark quite fast this day and Izaya was wondering if fate just couldn't have waited any longer to let those men come together - men, that were known for being dangerous and being able to instil respect in others only with their looks. He was standing behind Shiki, who was facing the other Yakuza members sitting around a big round table. He had a row of big windows behind him that were giving a free look over the roofs of Ikebukuro. However, most houses couldn't be recognized because of the thick rain that had just started a few hours ago.

At the moment Masuyo Wakamoto was explaining the achievements of the arms trade that his criminal group Shinobu-kai had reached lately overseas. Wakamoto was the current leader of the Shinobu-kai after it's original leader Shinobu had died last month according to his high age. Shiki was the deputy for Dougen while the other members were leaders of their groups except for Fudo Ishida from the Katsu-kai. Their leader, Ichiro Katsu was known for not showing himself often in public or at special meetings.

_Quite a coward._ Izaya thought and a dark grin appeared on his face. Masuyo's "bodyguards" that were standing behind him dressed in black like always, saw the malicious smile and their hands shot immediately to the guns hidden in the insides of their coats.

Masuyo noticed the sudden action, but didn't interrupt his speech.

"More than anything else the Shinobu-kai wish to increase the arms trade. Through the last ages we noticed that the other areas we tried to gain from went down to an insignificant amount of capital. I would appreciate if other groups could acknowledge this change and help more in logistic aspects instead of interrupting them."

There was a short silence, before Fudo began to form a response.

"Interrupt your trades? Believe me, Masuyo-san, your increasing arms trade is giving Kobe more problems than we could actually give you. The situation between the different gangs is getting out of control. You're saying that the arms trade is going overseas, but please tell me then, why the gangs here seem to get more and more guns? Aren't those yours, too?"

Izaya sighed internally. He knew from the very beginning, that they would talk the whole night just about the problem with the constantly increasing amount of weapons. While the Shinobu-kai tried to concentrate on this kind of trade, the other organizations were -though they were also participating in it - more relying on drug smuggling or real estate investment. Although he knew that the Shinobu-kai were only trading with some organizations in Indonesia, China and the USA, the amount of weapons in Japan had increased in the last few months worsening the problem between the different street gangs, also in Ikebukuro.

It had surprised him, when Izaya had once seen a whole gang of nearly 50 men, everyone of them holding a damn gun in their hands. This was the moment when he had decided to do some more research on it. Though the Shinobu-kai had really only been trading with the mentioned organizations, he had found out that one of them called "Sekarat Bulan" had smuggled a smaller amount of weapons back to Japan unnoticed by the "big bosses" of the Yakuza. Of course, the Yakuza wouldn't find out anything about it. Sekarat Bulan was handling most things in Indonesia, the last information about them could only be found on Taiwan. Izaya had had to move there for two weeks when he wanted to find out more about the actual trading process. And if it took even him that long to find out anything about it the Yakuza would need years for it, although the headquarters of the Shinobu-kai were in Fukuoka. But, after all it was more than satisfying for him that he once again knew more than the rest of them.

A dark grin appeared on his face and he noticed that Masuyo's men started to tense again. This time he didn't pretend to not notice the action and gave them a threatening look with crimson eyes. Sudden surprise was reflected in their faces when Izaya stepped two steps to the front now standing right beside Shiki.

Immediately all eyes were pointed at him and he enjoyed the attention from the normally so self-centred men. He felt Shiki tense beside him obviously not agreeing with his action. However, he didn't really care. It was show time.

"Ishida-san, you shouldn't underestimate your business partners~ I'm certain that Wakamoto-san would never be stupid enough to lose control in his own businesses, let alone draw the wrath of other chivalrous organizations on him. There's definitely another reason for the sudden change."

Though the faces of the different guys around the table kept being emotionless he could feel the atmosphere becoming ten degrees colder. Unfortunately he couldn't see Shiki's face, but he could swear that the man was facepalming internally right now.

"And what would that other reason be, Izaya Orihara-kun?"

It was Fudo, who asked the question. His calm voice wasn't really threatening but indeed he sounded curious what Izaya might answer.

"Well, let me find out~"

The simple answer wasn't obviously what he had expected. A surprised look appeared on Fudo's face when his eyes widened slightly. Izaya liked this change. The constantly emotionless faces of the Yakuza members were tiring him to death and he welcomed the beginning of a more "boisterous" discussion.

"The Yakuza had its problems, but no organization would risk a war against the rest. That's why some unknown authority has to disturb your little "underground" existence. I mean, the situation right now isn't good for any of you. Soon the police will definitely interfere with your little businesses, because who will be the first one to be suspected?~"

Izaya was going around the table approaching Fudo. The man followed every motion with careful eyes, until Izaya was only a mere meter away from him looking directly into his face. His comrades were obviously nervous not knowing how to react to the approaching Informant. The situation was strange and unexpected, but as long as their leader wouldn't give any orders, they weren't allowed to act against the dubious raven.

Izaya went even closer until he was directly next to Fudo - Mere centimeters separating them. He bended down, so their faces would be on the same height. A smile appeared in the Informant's face, when crimson eyes met blue ones and he immediately knew that Fudo Ishida would be taken in his plan.

"So let me take the job. I'll find the culprit and keep the police away from you. After all, I have never failed." Though he had still a smile on his face, his words had a serious sound. He was so close to Fudo, that it seemed they were only meant for him, but Izaya spoke them loud enough that everyone could hear them. Still keeping the eye contact he raised up and took a step back. Fudo didn't say anything. It seemed his eyes were drowning in the red sea of blood in Izaya's eyes.

Without another word Izaya then turned around walking back to Shiki's side, who was eyeing him, but Izaya ignored the obvious stare and just added: "I'm well known for my talent. The Awakusu-kai have often taken advantage of my skills."

For a moment nothing happened. All eyes were pointed at Izaya who was standing at his old place looking around the room, as if nothing had happened. The atmosphere didn't give any indication, whether one of the participants might explode in a second or not. Shiki was the first one to find his voice again, though it seemed it was more a way of loosening the atmosphere. "It's true. Orihara-san has always been a blessing to us. Who knows if we would still exist today without his help. I can insure that he'll solve the problem, whether it's caused by the Shinobu-kai or another group."

With that he throw a threatening glare at Masuyo that didn't go unnoticed by him. It was well known that Shiki Haruya and Masuyo Wakamoto weren't the best friends - actually they hated each other. Izaya didn't know what exactly had happened, but Shiki had once told him that it was according to some things that had happened a long time ago. It seemed, that they knew each other for such a long time, probably as long as Izaya and Shinra knew each other. The thought of Shiki in a school uniform suddenly startled him and he made a mental note to ask him later about his past.

However, it was obvious that Shiki still saw Masuyo as the problem. He had informed Izaya earlier, that Masuyo was one hell of a greedy bastard that had always loved to destroy the businesses of other groups, hostile or not. Izaya had laughed at Shiki's selection of words. Normally the man would always keep his etiquette. He would send killing glares at his enemies when they were in public, but he would never lose his respectful behavior towards them. But when he was alone with assumed friends, he could get quite abusive. It was one of the man's characteristics he liked the most.

"I suggest, we try it." Fudo said.

Izaya was looking to the ground as if the discussion was no longer any of his concern, but he could feel that Fudo's eyes were pointed at him while talking. The piercing look of the young man started to unsettle him, but he didn't let his apprehension show.

The other Yakuza members were looking at Fudo, not sure if they should join the idea or not. Totally there were five representatives: Shiki Haruya from the Awakusu-kai, Masuyo Wakamoto from the Shinobu-kai, Fudo Ishida from the Katsu-kai, Akihiro Goro from the Goro-kai and Norio Satoshi from the Satoshi-kai. However, there were a lot of staffs with them, always at least three men following their leaders standing behind their chairs right now. Izaya Orihara was probably the only one who wasn't bound to any of them.

"And who guarantees that he won't trick us? We can't just put our faith in the hands of one man who could easily set things in a way that everyone will blame the Shinobu-kai for the increasing problems!"

Though Masuyo had raised from his chair with an expression of absolute fury, the other bosses kept sitting on their seats as if nothing had happened. Fudo kept his eyes on Izaya a little longer, before he finally faced Masuyo. The enraged man didn't really seem to bother him, when he kept his usual emotionless expression uninfluenced by the fearsome atmosphere the leader was spreading. Izaya acknowledged Fudo a lot for his brave and respectful behavior against the other Yakuza leaders. Normally he would have been in disadvantage here, because he was a mere deputy and not in the same position as Masuyo, but Fudo didn't seem to be concerned about the fact or was at least not showing it.

"It's not like you have much of a choice, Masuyo-san. The way things are right now, everyone here would more likely believe that you're behind it and not another group. That's why you should accept the idea. More than to anyone else it'll be to your advantage."

It was obvious that Masuyo weren't satisfied with the situation and the fury in his eyes kept a little longer there, before he finally sat down on his seat. With that the rational part had won over his wrong proud. He knew exactly that Fudo was right, although he didn't like the way the man spoke to a more senior one. Finally he sighed and turned to Izaya.

"Fine then. I expect to get the first results in at least two weeks. Can you manage that, Information Broker?"

"Sure~"

"I suggest then, that we'll convene another meeting, when this thing is settled."

The conference had stopped sooner than it had begun. When Masuyo had suggested another meeting, everyone had agreed on the sudden ending. There indeed couldn't be any ongoing in the conversation as long as the problem, that sowed discord between the different organizations, wasn't solved.

Masuyo had been the first one to stand up and leave the room, his staffs following him immediately. Although the discussion ended in mutual agreement, you could feel that Masuyo still wasn't happy with the taken decision - though there wasn't much he could have done against it.

Shiki and Izaya were still standing at the end of the room when Shiki rose up sighing and approached Izaya in a relaxing manner.

"Really, Izaya ... That could have ended in a totally different way, you know that?"

"But it didn't. Told you to have a little trust in me~" he giggled.

A smile appeared on Shiki's face. "What should I do with you?" he murmured more to himself than to Izaya before he started to make a move in the door's direction.

"Probably hand his talented mind to another one, who would thankfully take him."

The friendly spoken words stopped them in their tracks when Fudo Ishida approached them from the other side of the table. Though he was nearer to Izaya, who was apparently the topic of the current conversation, his face was directed at Shiki and the spoken words were definitely meant for him.

Shiki immediately froze when he saw the rare smile on the face of the often so emotionless man. His experience told him, that guys, who were normally not giving any hint away of what they were thinking, were thinking about something, you didn't wanted to know at all while they were smiling. On the other hand Izaya Orihara had appeared to be like that, too, when he had first met him - but until now he had learned to appreciate the younger man and his skills often enjoying his presence.

Still it seemed, that something was weird. Earlier he could have sworn, that there was some deeper meaning in the way Izaya had approached Fudo and they had been looking at each other. And then the look Fudo had pointed at Izaya later and how he was "examining" him right now... But now Fudo seemed to be ignoring Izaya completely, although the man was standing right next to him. And then the smile ... He didn't trust that smile at all.

"It would be a shame if such skills were only used by the Awakusu-kai. Mind, if I borrow the talented Informant for my own purposes?"

Shiki as well as Izaya were perplexed by that question. Neither of them knew how to react - for Izaya, who still had the impression that he didn't have any right to interfere. It seemed the still smiling man was only recognizing Shiki, though that one was obviously not agreeing with the whole situation. However, when Shiki finally found his language back, he got a fearful expression and though his words were of a neutral content, they came out hissed and threatening.

"Izaya is a free individual and in no way bound to the Awakusu-kai. So why don't you ask him himself?"

Obviously Fudo hadn't expected such an answer, when his face lost the unusual smile and got a baffled expression. He needed a moment to know what to do then, before he finally turned to Izaya having again a brightening smile on his face. Now the positions were changed. Izaya and Fudo were standing closer to each other, while Shiki seemed to be watching from the outside.

"So what about it, Orihara-san? Would you mind working for the Katsu-kai on several opportunities?"

_What a sudden change. In one moment this man is one redoubtable bastard made of ice and in the next moment he's like the nice boy from next door. Interesting._ A smile appeared on the Informant's face. Not only this Fudo guy was very interesting in many ways, but he saw also many advantages in the work with another Yakuza group. The more groups he could get to trust him, the easier it would be for him to reach his final goals. These guys were that desperate to control everything, that it was too easy to get them and destroy them from the inside.

"I don't mind at all. And please call me Izaya. If we're really going to work together, I would like to keep a friendly atmosphere~" he chuckled.

"Well, then. Would you like to come with me to talk about any possible "tasks"? I mean, the night is still young."

If Shiki didn't know better, he would say that these two were actually flirting right now. Or at least Fudo was flirting and Izaya was his usual crazy self. The whole strange situation was a mere proof of it. He hoped that Izaya wouldn't at least be crazy enough to go away alone with that obviously devious man, but he should be thrown back to reality quite fast. Izaya was really unpredictable when it came to things like that. After all, he was still mocking the beast Shizuo Heiwajima nearly every day - when that wasn't any prove for Izaya's crazy mind, then he didn't know anymore...

"Of course, I would like to, Ishida-san~ I'm highly interested in the dubious businesses of the Katsu-kai~"

"That's great. And please call me Fudo. I as well would like to have a friendly atmosphere - at least with you. I think, we'll get along pretty well. I suggest, we go to my hotel suite, I have rented for the time I'd stay here. What do you think?"

"It sounds nice~ Let's go then~" With that sing sung voice Izaya took Fudo's arm faster than he could look, which surprised him, but didn't made him complain. He liked the honest behavior of the smaller raven and the furious expression he saw in Shiki Haruya's eyes was more than satisfying.

Shiki just stood there perplex to say anything to the unexpected sudden leave of those two, for he had thought that Izaya would leave with him that night. Still he couldn't believe what had gotten into that man, when he was leaving happily singing a final "Good Bye~" while clinging to Fudo Ishida like some love sick girl - before they walked out the door closing it behind them, so that only Shiki and the two Awakusu-kai staffs were left in the conference room.

* * *

About ten minutes ago the rain outside had stopped and the starlit shining was reflected in the left puddles on the street.

When Shizuo noticed, he had forgotten to buy a new pack of milk at his earlier walk, he decided to go out for the next convenience store. Though his working day had been quite hard like always, he couldn't find the usual wish to sleep and his need for milk had prevented him from just sitting at home and watching TV.

It was already late and owing to the earlier rain the streets were hardly busy. He had seen more stray dogs than people that night and the silence around him filled with the vague sounds of cars somewhere from the lively streets of Tokyo caused a peaceful feeling inside of him.

He fumbled with the packet of cigarettes inside his trousers and lit one taking a deep breath. The air was clear and he could feel his body relax to the fresh feeling that spread inside of him. He exhaled the smoke and watched it soar up in the sky while he kept walking.

Suddenly he heard a laughter that destroyed not only the perfect silence but also the peaceful feeling inside of him, when he recognized to whom it belonged: Izaya.

That fucking louse! Didn't that bastard know when it was time to stop his stupid games!?

It was in the middle of the night and that flea was still strolling around in Ikebukuro!

How often did he have to tell him to fucking leave the city!?

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and stomped it on the ground. His rage increased when he heard the laughter again and his steps became eager. The louder the voice was, the louder and faster he could hear the words repeat in his head:

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL...

He hadn't noticed that his steps became a mere running than walking and his instincts told him that Izaya would be behind the next corner - he could already smell that stupid flea scent.

"Izaya, you bastard. I'll kill you today! For once and for all! You stupid flea, what are you still doing in Ikebu..."

He stopped in his speech, when he moved around the corner and saw Izaya together with another man, young and well build and definitely _enjoying _the flea's presence. Both were laughing openly and they were in such a good mood, that they hadn't noticed Shizuo yet, who was staring at them with wide eyes. What the fuck was that flea doing?! It wasn't only that he had never seen Izaya smile that openly but also that he wasn't wearing his usual black coat, but a mere "decent" outfit. The white shirt and the black jeans were emphasizing his long, thin legs and his delicate waist. It was a rare sight. Izaya looked beautiful.

_Wait! What am I thinking?! Izaya's a flea. He can't be beautiful!_

Shizuo tried to mentally punch himself for that thought, before he found his mind back. His intention to chase the flea out of the city came back and he once again started to approach the two men furiously, when the other man suddenly moved nearer to Izaya and put his arm around the flea's waist to pull him nearer to him.

_WHAT THE FUCK!_

Without knowing why the sight raised his rage sky high, he grabbed the nearest street sign and threw it with all his strength in the direction of the two men.

* * *

**Reviews if you like :***


	2. Chapter 2: Countdown

**Chapter 2: Countdown**

Izaya was still linking arms with Fudo, after they had left the building.

"You're pretty affectionate."

"How are you supposed to have fun, when you aren't open with everyone and everything?~ You don't mind, do you?"

"No, not at all. I actually like it a lot." Fudo chuckled.

Right now they were going next to each other along the street. There weren't many people because of the earlier rain, therefore neither of them was bothered by the conspicuous body contact. In fact, it was a beautiful night and they enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere around them.

But still Izaya didn't know, how to assess Fudo. Was he interested in him as a person or did he only want to use his abilities as an Informant for the Katsu-kai?

Actually he had the feeling, that Fudo was flirting with him somehow, because he was a lot friendlier and more open-minded than earlier in the conference. On the other hand he had ignored him completely at the beginning of the conversation with Shiki.

At least he was certain to keep his eyes on the man. Although they seemed to be very good friends or even more from the outside, he didn't trust him at all. And yet he couldn't go past the fact, that he would need to come closer to him, if he wanted to learn more about the machinations of the Katsu-kai.

Though they had been going in silence for several minutes now, Fudo kept a smile on his face. Izaya had observed the man's expressions for the time, they were alone, and they were a lot more different from the ones he had shown during the conference. Currently he was watching him unnoticed from the side, before he asked: "See, I'm really interested: How does it happen, that you sat in the conference without flinching a second and now you're smiling the whole time like some lovesick teenager?"

Fudo turned his head with a cheerful expression to Izaya, before he smiled wide and showed a row of shining white teeth.

"Well, in the conference I hadn`t such a good company."

Izaya raised his eyebrows in a mocking way at that statement, before he replied: "I may like your way of praising me, but I would still like to know the real reason."

Fudo kept his cheerful behavior, though his smile decreased a little. For a while he was just looking Izaya in the eyes, then once again to the front of the street, before he finally answered: "You know, how these Yakuza guys are. It doesn't matter, what you are able to do. If you show them your true self, they won't respect you anymore and you'll be thrown out of the game."

"So the whole business is a game for you? Interesting~"

"Do you mean to say, it isn't a game for you?" he asked and turned his face once again to Izaya.

"I think, what you did and said in the conference was pretty brave. Not everyone would dare to laugh in some respectful Yakuza member's faces. Someone, who takes the business serious, would never do that."

It took him a while to show any reaction, but suddenly the Information Broker began to laugh at the taller man's comment, which made this one's smile vanish, while his eyes widened in surprise.

"What's so funny?" He watched the raven let go of his arm stepping a few steps to the front and then turning around to face him again.

"You, obviously~"

There was silence for a short moment. Fudo had lost his smile and was watching Izaya with a pungent expression, while the Informant was standing in front of him with a dubious grin on his face.

What had just happened? Suddenly the other man had lost his friendly behavior and was treating him in a more "conceited" way. Had the raven gone crazy or had he play-acted the whole time? It had to be one of this, because he couldn't remember saying anything funny at all. So why...

"Now, don't look so serious, Fudo~ It's just the nonsense in your earlier words, that made me laugh. You said, it's a game for me, because I am obviously not hiding my true self for anyone. But that's exactly, what you did during the conference. It seems, this isn't just a children's game for you as you pretend it to be~"

The taller man froze. He hadn't watched his earlier words that carefully. But now that he thought about it, there was indeed a paradox in them, that he hadn't noticed before.

Suddenly the raven approached him from the front, until he was only mere centimeters away from him. His crimson eyes looked in the sky-blue ones of the taller man for a short moment, before he added seriously: "Your behavior is absolutely understandable, Fudo. I know, what's at stake. It's about honor and power. That's the game. But just because it's a game, that doesn't mean, you can't take it serious. Especially when losing the game means to die."

"But if you know that, why are you always so boisterous?"

They kept the solemn eye contact a little longer, before Izaya finally began to giggle and stepped away from Fudo again.

"It's easy: I'm not playing the same game like you~ I'm concerned about information and knowledge, not about power. If someone doesn't want to work with me, that's fine. I'll just search for someone else. I'm absolutely free and unbound, when it comes to this. I don't care, what other people are thinking about me~"

Fudo's eyes widened in surprise at that comment. Was it really possible, that the Informant only cared about knowledge? Wasn't there really any higher motive behind his actions? He had suspected, that the man was planning on infiltrating the other organizations to play them off against each other and for giving the Awakusu-kai more profit. Originally this had been his reason for wanting to get to know the raven better. He had heard before, that the Awakusu-kai had an incredible Informant, who they were claiming almost only for themselves. It had been his plan to win Izaya for himself, so they would have an advantage against the other organizations, but as it seemed now, he wouldn't need to do such a thing. If it was true, that the man didn't favored any side, he would go to find out anything for him - without any manipulation. He smiled.

"I see. You're special."

"I am~" the raven chuckled.

"It's good, that you are." Fudo stepped closer to Izaya and looked directly into his eyes. A faint smile still played about his lips. The Informant smiled back, although he had noticed that the expression on Fudo's face had changed. Something in his eyes was different. It was the way, he was looking at him. Beforehand there had only been sheer friendliness, but now there was something else, that Izaya couldn't define.

"Because like this I don't have to worry."

"Wha-" Izaya wanted to reply, when Fudo suddenly stepped closer to him and started to put his arm around Izaya's waist. Their torsos touched and Izaya got a fright, when he noticed, that Fudo was lowering his head to bring it on the same height as Izaya's. _Is he going to kiss me?_ The thought shocked him. Though he had been friendly, it hadn't meant, that he wanted to get to know Fudo _that_ way.

His hand shot to the pocket of his jeans, where his switchblade was, when suddenly Fudo was torn away from him and was skidded several meters away in the direction, from where they had come from.

Absolutely dumbfounded Izaya just stood there with his opened mouth and tried to understand, what had just happened. Fudo was lying on the ground unconsciously, face on the asphalt, blood dripping from a wound in his head, and a massive, metallic bar was lying sideways over his body: a street sign.

_Wait! A street sign!? Oh no ..._ Izaya sighed mentally.

Slowly he was turning his head in the direction, from where the sign had been coming from, only to see nothing less than a really bad enraged Shizuo Heiwajima. His face was red with fury and Izaya understood immediately, that the monster was definitely more furious than the last time, they had met. But why? Had he done anything wrong or different that day? He couldn't remember anything in particular. On the other hand everybody would be able to enrage the beast like shit - he was just the poor pig, that had to iron out the whole thing.

So what to do? Because of the conference he was less armed than usual, but even with arms he wouldn't be able to fight the beast enough. His other problem was, that he couldn't escape with Fudo, because that one was still lying bleeding on the ground. _Probably he's dead..._ At least, it didn't seem that the man would stand up again very soon. So there was only one option for him.

"I know, that you want to monopolize me, but I'd appreciate if you couldn't knock out my great company anymore, Shizu-chan~" he mocked the blonde and put out the switchblade from his jeans. He flicked it open and pointed its end directly in the direction of Shizuo. A malicious grin appeared on the Informant's face. He could see, how Shizuo's anger grew stronger at his actions.

"IZAAYAAA! You stupid louse! It's night and you're still here! How often do I have to kick your ass out of Ikebukuro to make you finally never come back!?"

"I don't want to be a smart-ass, but you actually never managed to _kick_ my ass~"

"Believe me, I'm going to kick your ass so hard, that you'll fly out of Japan!" an aggressive smile appeared on the man's face, before he got hold of the next street sign breaking it with his bare hands.

"Well, I don't think, that's going to happen, because therefore you'd have to catch me~"

And with that the raven threw his switchblade in the direction of the monster. This one recognized the fast movement early enough to change his position in a way, that he wouldn't get the blade thrown in his head, but it still cut alongside his neck leaving a bleeding wound.

"IZAAAYAAAA!"

Immediately the raven dashed off in the opposite direction knowing that the beast would definitely follow him and forget about Fudo.

"You fucking louse! Stay here!" The enraged blonde threw the street sign with his whole strength, but it was only used as a springboard by the raven, before he started to follow him.

Like always the monster left signs of devastation behind him, when he threw everything, he could get hold of, at Izaya.

While trying to lead the beast away from Fudo and getting rid of him, he fumbled with the mobile phone in his pocket and called Shinra. It took a moment, before finally someone answered the phone.

"Do you know how late-"

"Shinra. I've got a job for Celty. She shall pick up someone hurt and bring him to you. Shizu-chan got one of his fits of rage.~ The payment is 2,000,000 Yen. I'll send her the details." And with that he hung up without waiting for an answer.

He knew, that Celty would take the job with that high payment. Let alone she would never let someone hurt and bleeding back, lying on the cold street. He smiled.

Now he just needed to get rid of the beast.

* * *

One week had passed since the conference, and Izaya had decided, that it was finally time to tell Masuyo about the Indonesian group "Sedan Bulan".

He was on his way to Fukuoka, where the headquarters of the Shinobu-kai were located. The route took him about six hours by train. He liked travelling that way, because he could observe more of his lovely humans and could brood about, how to settle his problems. At the moment he was sitting in the train looking out of the window and trying to ignore the conversations around him.

He was certain, that he would be able to convince Masuyo, that he just wanted to help them. Therefore he decided to inform him personally about the group and not make the information, he gathered, "public" in front of other Yakuza members. With that the Yakuza boss would think, that he wanted to settle their problems in a "subtle" way. Like that he could insure him, that Izaya would only work for the Shinobu-kai in that matters, and not let any information, that were only meant for them, slip to other Yakuza organizations like the Awakusu-kai.

To win Masuyo definitely wasn't a problem.

More of a problem right now was his relationship with Fudo Ishida. Though the man was still alive, Shizuo had hurt him seriously and he didn't know yet, what the man was planning to do. Was he going to take revenge on the blonde?

Izaya didn't like the idea. Shizuo was his alone and it was his wish and his duty to let him live or die. His plans with the beast weren't fulfilled now and he wouldn't let anyone interfere with them.

But why had the beast been so fucking furiously to begin with? He still hadn't any answer to that question. He had thought about it and now he was sure, that he hadn't done anything that day, that was worse than normally. So it couldn't have to do anything with him, could it? Someone or something else must have enraged the blonde to that state.

When it came to Fudo, Izaya still didn't know, what to expect of the man. His expressions and behavior changed in mere seconds and he could still curse himself, that he hadn't see it coming, when the man was obviously trying to kiss him.

He knew that he needed to approach Fudo for his plan again, but he wasn't willed to let things go in _that _direction. _I have to make clear, that I only want to be friends with him._ he thought. Probably the man wouldn't understand and get angry at him, but Izaya would rather find another way to get in contact with the Katsu-kai than to dirty his body with the touches of a man, he didn't even trust - though he didn't dislike Fudo. Maybe in that case he should thank Shizuo for his interruption, because without it he'd probably have attacked Fudo himself. But like this he could still keep up his planned business with the man. _Thanks, Shizuo-chan~_ he thought and a small smile appeared on his face.

The last time he had seen Fudo, had been at Shinra's place, after the doctor had taken care of the man. He had insured him, that the Yakuza staff was out of danger, but he hadn't talked any longer with the man after that time.

The same day they had decided to meet for discussing the things, Fudo originally had wanted him to do, when the man was top fit again. It had took Izaya quite a while and his great ability for negotiating things to convince the man to let Shizuo Heiwajima in peace, until they would meet again and could talk about the accident. It had been obvious, that Fudo didn't want to go along with that at first, but at the end he had agreed. The hesitation of the man made the raven suggest, that Fudo was definitely thinking about approaching the beast.

Izaya didn't want to think about the possible outgoings of that situation. If Fudo weren't stupid, he'd try to shoot the blonde, because anything else would be without any results. But if Fudo was stupid enough for that - what Izaya didn't think - the monster would most probably kill him.

However, that weren't things he should be concerned about now. First of all, he should settle things with Masuyo Wakamoto and increase his connections with the Shinobu-kai.

With that, he'd set his plan finally in motion.

A dark grin appeared on his face, when he thought about the sweet realization of his wishes.

He just needed to wait two more hours, until the train would arrive at the wanted station.

* * *

"So you want to tell me that Sedan Bulan sold the arms, they had bought from us, back to Japan?"

"Yes. They were really careful with their businesses. That's why, I couldn't find out much via their digital network and had to go there myself."

"I see. You were pretty fast with that."

"Everything for my most important client~"

Izaya was sitting in Masuyo's office. They were facing each other over a big table. In front of him stood a cup of coffee, but he was more or less just playing with. He grabbed it and took a sip, while Masuyo was looking over a pile of documents. Right now he was reading all the information the raven had gathered so far. He was impressed by the talent and professionalism, the man showed.

After a while of silence he sighed and looked up to the raven putting away the pencil in his hand.

"Well then. Thank you for your hard work. We can take care of the rest."

"I wouldn't recommend that~"

Masuyo had already wanted to stand up and send the raven out of his office, but the answer of the man startled him and he kept sitting and watched him.

"And why is that?"

Izaya put the cup back on the table and gave the leader of the Shinobu-kai a knowing glare. His crimson eyes were piercing and Masuyo had to pull himself together to not flinch at the stabbing look. A malicious smile appeared at the Informant's face.

"I guess, you are just planning to punish Sedan Bulan for their actions by cutting connections with them or even killing them. But right now those street gangs are dependent on the weapons, they are buying from Sedan Bulan. But even if that one group vanishes, who insures you, that they won't just find another group and buy arms from those guys again? With that you'd still be the first suspect, when it comes to the increasing amount of weapons. Let's face facts! The other organizations, that were represented at the conference, didn't really believe you, let alone like you. Your actions wouldn't let the problem disappear from the world."

"So what do you suggest?"

"Destroy Sedan Bulan and sell the arms to the street gangs yourself~"

"What?!" Masuyo shouted. He had shot up from his seat and was looking furiously at the Information Broker, but this one was just giggling at his reaction. How could the raven even suggest such a thing?! Wasn't the arms trade the problem to begin with? Like that he' d exactly do, what the other organizations were thinking of him right now and he didn't want to bring them up against him. But the Informant definitely wasn't stupid, so why was he talking such a nonsense?!

"You didn't listen, Wakamoto-san~ I said, make them dependent on _you. _Sedan Bulan just cares about money. They are obviously selling the weapons without any conditions. Otherwise I probably wouldn't have been able to find out everything about them _that_ fast. But you could do it. If Sedan Bulan is destroyed, the street gangs will have to look for another organization, that can sell them weapons, and then you'll appear. Sell the arms under conditions, that'll restrict their freedom of using them against each other. Say, you'll guarantee them, that you won't cut connections and bring them any problems, if they agree. Believe me, they'll accept the contract. And with that, everyone will gain profit from the situation~"

There was a truth in the Informant's words that made him shudder. Indeed he could just trick the other Yakuza groups that way and wouldn't make any loss with it. Still he doubted, that it would actually be possible to realize.

"You say, that it`s so easy, but there aren't only these three parties, that are trading with arms. Who insures me, that they won't cooperate with any other group from overseas?"

The smile on the raven's face grew wider at that question. A malicious glow sparkled in his eyes, that made Masuyo get goose-pimples.

"There's just one thing, you have to do to make the plan become reality: trust. Give me free access to all documents and records of the Shinobu-kai. I'll settle everything for you and give you the perfect basis to start a very new business within the borders of Japan~" Izaya said and took a sip again. He closed his eyes and savored the warm fluid, that ran down his throat and filled his belly with a pleasant feeling.

"It's that easy~" he finally added after a moment.

Masuyo on the other hand wasn't sure if it was really _that _easy. The Informant appeared to be talented, no question, but the man still wasn't really trustworthy. After all he was a friend of Shiki Haruya, one of the men he despised the most in the world.

Although the raven was right. Only destroying Sedan Bulan wasn't the solution - and he couldn't arrange a bunch of assassins to kill every group, that was a danger for his business or that could interfere with it. It was indeed a lot easier to let the Informant just infiltrate the other organizations and let him find out, which of them where dangerous in that aspect and which not. It would save a lot of time and money for him. Still he wasn't sure. Until now the man had done great work, but the workspace until now and the workspace the Informant suggested were totally different. "_Total access to all documents_"... That would mean, that the man would be able to inform himself about everything that would have happened until now inside the Shinobu-kai. Their structure, their people, their machinations...If he'd let that actually happen, the man could destroy them from the ground up, if he wanted to. Could he really accept responsibility for such a thing?

A few minutes had passed, since Masuyo had fallen silent. The man was definitely considering the offer, but he just took _too_ long.

If the leader didn't take the offer, Izaya wouldn't know, how to realize his plan. He needed access to their member index, otherwise he wouldn't be able to go on. Masuyo had to go in the plan. But for that he needed to convince the man and right now it seemed that he could actually turn him down.

He sighed mentally. He had to do something. Originally he had thought, that Masuyo would be a lot easier to convince, but now he had to take more "effective" measures.

"You take quite a long time to think about my offer, Wakamoto-san~ I guess, it's my connection to the Awakusu-kai, that makes you hesitate. I will sign a contract, if it's that, what it needs to make you believe me, that this employment relationship will be held secretly between the two of us."

Masuyo could see, that the Information Broker was indeed dead serious about it. The grin on the man's face had vanished and had been replaced by a cold, piercing look, that made him understand the gravity of his situation. He gritted his teeth, when he cursed this moment mentally. He had to make a resolution. _All you have to do is trust. It's that easy. _

Finally after a few more minutes he answered: "Fine. Take whatever you'll need to solve the problem."

Izaya smiled. He did it. He could feel the adrenalin rush through his veins, when he lost himself in the euphoria of the thought, that his wishes would soon be realized. _This is only the beginning._ His crimson eyes lighted up with malicious joy.

"With this it's decided~"

* * *

It had taken him two month. _Two month _of searching through documents, observing humans and hacking networks until he could finally go over to the next step - until he had finally found the person, he had searched for.

It was cruel irony, that this man had been in Tokyo for nearly one year now. He had been in his contiguity, within his reach, all this time and he hadn't known it. The fact made his blood boil with fury.

His name was Jirou Ishii.

He had found out, that Jirou had been in the Shinobu-kai, before he came to Tokyo. The reason was his rivalry with Masuyo Wakamoto. Both had enjoyed Shinobu's favor before his death and both had wished to take over the leadership of the Shinobu-kai. However, it ended with the result, that Masuyo got the leadership and Jirou went to Tokyo to get more contact to Shiki, the man who despised Masuyo. It seemed, that he had thought Shiki would help him to bring Masuyo down and replace him as the leader, though Shiki wasn't really interested in such a thing. But it didn't matter, what the man was planning, because soon he wouldn't be able to plan anything at all anymore.

Izaya was observing him about one week now. He had to find out, what the man was doing within his day: his relationships, his habits and his daily routine.

Jirou was living alone. His apartment was small, only two rooms, but that didn't matter. His only neighbor had gone away yesterday to spend some time with his friends at the beach. So there wouldn't be anyone to hear him. And even if someone came by, Izaya would just think up a story. Today he'd complete the first stage of his plan.

It was the time, when most people would go outside being in a party mood. Many of them chatted with each other in loud and happy voices while spreading a boisterous atmosphere, but Jirou had stayed at home tonight. He always stayed at home on Wednesdays, because there was a new episode of his favorite TV-show coming out that day. Such a stupid habit was the perfect help for Izaya. It proofed once more, that someone should never have any stronger habits, because someone might watch you - and before you even know it, this person will be there waiting for you.

Right now Izaya stood in front of the huge building, where Jirou's apartment was in. He stood on the other side of the street watching happy and ignorant people pass by. The volume of the conversations nearly drowned his heartbeats, but he could feel, how the hot blood flow through his veins and a sharp pressure increased on his head. It was his wrath, that took control over him and his vision went red at the edges of his eyes.

He passed the street not paying attention to anything around him. He didn't even notice when he entered the elevator, but the sudden peaceful music, that was always played in them, made him boil with rage and his hands began to tremble, when he had to oppress the need to punch something with his whole body strength.

He could escape from the annoying music, when the door finally opened and he stepped out with eager legs.

And then there was it: the door. This one door, that was the last nuisance for him - the last thing, that separated him from his target. Fortunately there wasn't a problem with opening it. He knew, it wasn't close. Of course not. Jirou was one conceited bastard, who didn't think that someone would attack him in his own home. He never closed the door, when he was awake. Just shortly before he got to sleep, he would finally close it. Because then even some fucking bastard like him would finally notice, that he could never survive an attack during sleep - that alone showed Izaya, that the man was a hypocritical coward in his eyes. The raven was sure, that today wouldn't be any different. After all he had wasted one week to observe that bastard 24/7. He would make him pay for everything.

Two steps away from the door he took out a small gun, that he had hidden under his coat. He wanted to play safe and put a silencer on it, just in case somebody would come by.

Without hesitating he took the door-handle in his hand and opened it. There was no one in the floor, but he could hear the background noises of the TV, that were definitely coming from the living room. Quietly he closed the door behind him and went into the direction of the noises holding the gun loaded in front of him.

His target was sitting on a couch, that was placed in the direction to the floor. The man's eyes widened by shock when he saw the raven appear in the doorframe penetrating him with cold eyes in the color of blood. But even more alarming was the voice of the man, dripping with wrath and rage, when he said:

"Hello, Jirou. Dou you remember me?"

* * *

**Next chapter hell will break lose!**


	3. Chapter 3: First Encounter

**Chapter 3: First Encounter**

Jirou had been very excited, when he had gone home and was finally able to turn on the TV. Every time his show got a new episode, he could feel his heart beat an instant faster according to the great joy, that filled his body. "40 steps to heaven" was not only the most tragic love story, he had ever seen, but it was also thrilling as shit, when the criminal parts started. Often he felt, that his day had been a total waste, until he could sit at home and watch it. The atmosphere around him would never be more inviting than to that hour.

But today his happiness was destroyed, when suddenly a man appeared in his doorframe. He was so fixated on the TV, that he hadn't even noticed him immediately, but then he saw the sudden reflection of a pair of shining, red eyes. He first couldn't define that evil gleam, that made his body shiver, but then he recognized the silhouette standing only a few meters away from him.

Although the eyes had attracted his attention, the next thing, that shot immediately in his view, was the gun, the man was pointing at him. Suddenly he forgot totally about his show and the noises, that were still made by the TV.

All he could see was this young man with black hair and beautiful red eyes, that pierced like daggers through him, while Jirou could only feel his face pale and the blood in his body freeze.

When the man finally spoke, he could hear the voice filled with anger and wrath, and he immediately knew, that he needed to get out of there - He needed to get away from that man. Though he had heard the voice clearly and its sound was still filling his head, the fear that crawled out of his bones made him not understand a word, the man had said.

He was still sitting on the couch unmoved, but the panic was growing inside him with every second that passed, while his head just repeated the words: _GetOutGetOutGetOut..._

Suddenly the man came one step closer to him and that was the action, that brought him finally back to reality. The rigidity in his limbs eased off and he could form new thoughts, when he heard the background noises of the TV again. The paralyzing fear had almost vanished, when cool rationality gained the upper hand inside of him.

"What do you want?" he shouted in the man's direction. This one was still pointing the gun at him, but he wasn't willed to let the man notice his fear.

"I said: Do you remember me, Jirou?" And again the voice was cold like ice.

_Remember..._He scrutinized the young man in front of him. Piercing eyes in the color of blood, a delicate, handsome face and fine, black hair. The man was beautiful and Jirou was sure, that he would definitely remember someone with that appearance, at least someone with such conspicuous eyes. But he couldn't. He was sure, that he had never seen him.

Though it was obvious, that the man was very furious with him.

Well, if someone was enough furious with him to take a gun and try to shoot him, it meant, that it had definitely something to do with his work. The man could be send by the Shinobu-kai or another organization. Probably Masuyo was thinking about just getting rid of him that way. _Masuyo, you bastard!_ he cursed the man internally. That asshole wasn't brave enough to approach him personally and kill him with his own hands!

But still, that wouldn't explain, why the man was asking, if he remembered him. He wouldn't ask him that, if he was an assassin send by Masuyo, would he?

Probably the man was just mistaking him for someone else. But he said his name, didn't he? He sighed mentally.

"No. I don't remember you." He answered with quiet voice.

The crimson eyes didn't leave his face, when the other man said in a neutral tone:"That's a shame for you."

And then without hesitating or flinching, he shot Jirou directly in the right thigh.

You couldn't hear a thing, when the silencer dampened the sound of the shot, and the only sounds, that appeared first, were the screams of the man, when the bullet broke through the flesh of his thigh.

Blood streamed out of the wound and Jirou fell to the bottom, when he couldn't restrict the need to run away. But as soon as he put a part of his weight on his right leg, the pain shot through his whole body and he couldn't prevent himself from falling.

His hands were pressed on the wound in his thigh, when he looked up with dazed eyes at the approaching man.

"What do you want?!" he screamed, when those eerie eyes were piercing through him again.

But the man didn't say a word, until he was only mere centimeters away from Jirou. He sank to his knees pressing the gun against the front of Jirou's neck, while his left hand got hold of his shoulder and grabbed it with utter strength. He forced him to look into those bloody eyes filled with wrath and Jirou could feel the absolute aggressive and furious aura of the man.

"I want you to remember me." he hissed through clenched teeth.

Again Jirou could feel the panic increasing inside of him, when he was finally sure, that the man was definitely going to kill him. But his superior body strength compared to the young man, who was dangerous but not really muscular, got hold of the situation, when his fear made him slap the arms of the man away and kick him into his stomach, before he could even realize, what he had just done.

Dumbfounded he looked at the man holding his belly in pain, when he suddenly noticed, that the raven had let the gun fall, which was now lying only a meter away from. Without hesitating he got hold of it, but when he pointed it at the other man, this one was already holding a knife is his hand throwing it into his direction.

But before the knife buried itself deep in the hand, that was holding the gun, he was able to shot once in the direction of the raven and a deep relief appeared inside him, when the bullet hit the man in his shoulder.

However, the knife, that was cutting through his flesh, made him lose hold if the gun and the other man, though he was obviously in pain according to the gunshot wound, kicked him in the chest, when he was underestimating that one's speed. Like a flash of lighting those red eyes were approaching him, before he stumbled backwards and landed once again on the ground knocking his head on the edge of the table, before blood started to drip from it.

Meanwhile the raven had been able to grab the gun again holding it in his right hand, while his left hand was pressing against the wound on his shoulder. Blood was running over his hand, when he approached Jirou again.

He knew, that the man was going to kill him, but how was he supposed to fight this guy? In one last attempt to protect himself from the man, he pulled the knife out of his hand and pointed in the direction of the other man.

"DARE YOU, ASSHOLE!" he roared in his direction, though he knew that this was pretty desperate of him. The man could easily kill him now, if he wanted to.

He was already expecting the man to just shoot him in the head, when this one suddenly started giggling. The giggling grew stronger and it became a hysterical laughter, though the man wasn't lowering the gun.

"STOP THAT! YOU INSANE BASTARD! DO IT ALREADY!"

Jirou felt anger grew inside of him. This bastard was making fun of him! Only a moment ago he had been fucking desperate to kill him and now he was laughing like some crazy psychopath. He wasn't willed to waste his time for some shitty bastard like that! He brandished his arm and threw the knife in the direction of the man. It cut the man alongside his arm, which was holding the right shoulder and made him finally stop the hysterical laughter.

The knife was lying on the ground now, while the man was only watching Jirou with careful eyes not saying anything.

A short moment nothing happened, but then a malicious grin appeared on the man's face.

His eyes shined from bloody-mindedness and Jirou knew immediately, that this was the end for him.

"I'm glad that nobody will miss you, Jirou." His eyes widened in shock, when the raven once again got that look in his eyes, that told him, that the man would shoot him again.

He prepared himself for the coming pain, when the man first shot him in his left thigh and a loud scream escaped his lips. The pain was increasing every second now and he began to whimper in agony, when the thought hit him, that he couldn't go anymore.

"An eye for an eye" the man said in a neutral tone still having the malicious grin on his face, when he shot a second time. This time in Jirou's belly. The man screamed again, when unimaginable pain hit him.

"NO PLEASE! WAIT! I will do everything!" he begged. He didn't care about his pride or his manliness anymore. He just wanted the pain to stop, but the grin on the young man's face, that was the epitome of pure wrath, didn't vanish.

"And a tooth for a tooth."

"WAI-" he screamed, when the man pointed the gun at his head, but he couldn't even finish the word, before impenetrable darkness surrounded him.

The only thing left were the background noises of the TV, when the main role professed his love.

* * *

Shizuo was strolling through the dark streets of Ikebukuro.

He couldn't sleep, so he had considered, that a midnight walk in the moonlight would ease his body and mind a bit. But he couldn't find any peace, when there were so many questions in his head, that left him restless.

For how long hadn't he seen the flea? About two month, he guessed. The last time, he had seen him, had been with that other guy, he had knocked out, before the flea had thrown one of his switchblades at him.

Normally he would get angry at the memory of it, but the thought, that something might have happened to the raven, stopped all negative feelings in their tracks - except for the serious worry Shizuo felt, when he thought about the man.

_Damn it! _He shouldn't feel like that. He hated Izaya. He should be happy, that the louse had finally disappeared from his life and would probably never come back.

But he couldn't. Every time he thought of Izaya being dead or hurt, a strange feeling spread inside of him and he had to oppress the need to run around the city screaming the man's name, until he would finally appear again.

He had even thought about going to Shinjuku, just to find out, if the man was still there. But then he had noticed, that this would be pretty desperate of him. If he went there, the flea would most probably laugh into his face saying how pathetic he was. And then he'd lose control again. Shizuo wasn't willed to let anything like that happen.

So he had decided to wait. First he had thought, the flea would soon appear again, because it had never taken him long to approach the blonde, but then the time of his absence became longer and Shizuo finally understood, that something must have happened.

Was Izaya angry, because of the things, that had happened the last time, they had seen each other? Because Shizuo had hurt that other guy? The thought caused a sharp pain near his chest.

It had been obvious, that Izaya and the man were pretty close, when they laughed and enjoyed each other during that night. But could it actually be, that someone was interested in the raven in _that _way?

Shizuo had always thought, that Izaya spend his time with planning some evil jokes to just anger the shit out of him. He knew, that the man was sometimes working for the Awakusu-kai and would most probably spend some time with his sisters, but he had actually never thought of him having a private life. Or, no, he had thought about his private life, and he had come to the conclusion, that it was composed of his way to visit the blonde and enrage him.

_How stupid of me_. He laughed bitterly. How could he even think, that Izaya was anywhere similar to him? It was obvious, that the raven knew a lot of people, and to suspect, that he would have some kind of love affair with one of them, wasn't really far away.

_Love affair_. The word left a bitter taste in his mind. He immediately remembered Izaya's appearance, when that other man approached him and wanted to... what ... kiss him?

After all it had seemed like it.

But was is that absurd? At least the man seemed to be quite affectionate about the raven. Now that he thought about it again, Izaya had indeed looked beautiful. He had shown more skin than normally and the way he had dressed - you could see his proportions pretty well in the street lighting. Normally he'd always wear that stupid coat, that covered these beautiful curves, but this time there wasn't anything, that prevented the look on his beauty.

And then there had been his eyes, that reflected the light like red diamonds and that very true smile of Izaya, that he had never seen before. _Beautiful ..._ Shizuo gulped, when he noticed that his body was indeed becoming hot and that he was blushing a bit. He tried to get the image out of his head. He needed to calm down.

Immediately his thought shot back to the man, who had been with Izaya that night. Had he killed him? Maybe that was the reason, why the raven didn't come after him anymore. What if the man was indeed someone Izaya had _loved_? Could this actually be possible? The words "Izaya" and "Love" sounded weird in one sentence. Until now he hadn't thought, that the raven would be able to love anyone else than himself, but the sight, he had witnessed, just showed the opposite.

Somehow the thought, that Izaya was with someone else right now and wouldn't approach him ever again, left a painful emptiness in him, but he couldn't explain, why he was feeling that way.

The blonde was interrupted in his thoughts, when suddenly a familiar smell touched his nose.

_IZAYA!_

Never would he mistaken that smell. The fact, that he could smell him, or at least thought he could, showed, that the man had to be in his immediate vicinity. It was, as if he could at first smell the flea, when he was near, and then he could feel the man's presence in all of his fibers. All he need to do was follow his instincts.

Normally he would run after it to chase the louse out of Ikebukuro again, but today he just wanted to see, if it was really the flea, he could smell, and not some strange trick, that his senses were playing him.

His steps became wider and faster, until he was running in high speed jumping over obstacles like benches and fences as if they were nothing more than little stones.

He could feel his heartbeat fasten, when he knew that the flea wasn't far away anymore, while a smile appeared on his face. He didn't really recognized it, but it was the first time, that he actually _wanted_ to see Izaya.

Just to make sure, that the man was still there, he would also like to see that stupid grin of him, though he hated it the most at the man. Moreover he would prefer that beautiful smile, he had only witnessed once, but it didn't matter - he felt great joy spread inside of his body, when he saw the back of the small silhouette with that black coat, he would always recognize.

"IZAYA!"

Shizuo ran closer towards the man still having the smile on his face. His action felt desperate to him, but he still had the feeling, that this could be some weird trick of the raven just to make him go insane, like the man had always tried to do.

However, it seemed that everything of this was real, when Izaya stopped and slowly turned around to him.

Their eyes met and Shizuo was finally relieved, when he was only about a meter away from the man and was convinced, that the raven wasn't an illusion.

But suddenly his smile froze and his face paled, when he saw more of the man.

Izaya was covered with blood! - His shirt was wet with blood. His bloodstained hands were pressing against his shoulder, that was obviously bleeding a lot and blood drops were placed all over his face and slowly running down his neck.

But it wasn't only the sight, that took his breath away, but the look in the Informant's eyes. There was no smirk, no grin, no arrogance or loathing, that were the only things he normally got from Izaya. He could see a deep sadness in his eyes, that couldn't be anything but real.

The expression only worsened, when a sad smile appeared on the raven's face. Shizuo had probably never been that close to Izaya, but instead of grabbing him, he just stood there and watched the man, that used to be his archenemy, he thought of knowing so good. But now the man seemed to be a totally different person, as if someone took his soul and left only special parts, that were normally hidden behind an acted facade, but were now the only thing, the man could feel and show to the world.

For a few minutes they just stood there looking into the other one's eyes, not saying anything. The sad smile kept in place, but it seemed to be a bad try to let the usual malicious grin appear. It was as if the man tried to seem strong towards his archenemy, but failed totally at it and now it had the opposite effect. With all the blood on his body and the sadness in his expression Izaya appeared to be so vulnerable towards Shizuo, that it caused a sharp sting in his chest.

"What is it, Shizu-chan? Standing there without doing anything... Did you lose your brain and forgot, who I am?"

The voice was cold, filled with something Shizuo couldn't define. But it was definitely not the mocking tone, Izaya had had normally towards him.

Everything about the man told him, that something worse must have happened. Of course, the man was obviously hurt badly, but he seemed to not pay much attention to the fact, that blood was covering his whole body. So what was it? Shizuo was sure, that Izaya was one of the guys, that weren't distracted by only a few wounds. But right now the Informant was like a different person.

Suddenly a thought hit Shizuo. What if it was something about that guy from last time? He hadn't seen Izaya for months and now that he finally saw him again, the man wasn't the Izaya, he had used to know. What if that man had something done to him, during all this time, when Izaya had mysteriously disappeared from Ikebukuro?

Somehow the thought of someone touching Izaya against his will, enraged him and he nearly lost his senses, when pictures of a violated Izaya fighting for his life appeared before his eyes.

It was strange, that the man before him was so unusually calm right now, while Shizuo had to control himself because of something he wasn't even sure about. Between gritted teeth he managed to ask the question, that had been in his mind all this time, though it came out a lot more intimidating towards the man, than he had actually planned it to be.

"Izaya...what happened?"

He could see the raven straighten at the question, stepping a bit back. He eyes were roaming around, and Shizuo needed a minute to understand, that the Informant was looking for a way out. Of course, his expression was pretty angry right now and the smaller man must thought, that he was angry at him.

Shizuo wanted to clear the wrong idea of the raven, when this one suddenly relaxed and just closed his eyes.

_What...?_ Shizuo wondered, before he understood, what Izaya was doing.

Izaya was giving up! The Informant still expected Shizuo to punch him, so his action meant, that he actually allowed Shizuo to do it. But why? Was it because he thought, that there was no chance to get out of the situation in his current condition?

The fact hurt him. What did the man think of him, that he really expected him to hurt someone, who was already in a condition like that? Well, normally he would have probably punched him in the face right away, but now was different.

He actually felt pity for the man before him, though he didn't know, what had happened. But whatever it had been, it was changing something inside of the raven, that Shizuo wasn't sure of, if he should like it or not.

However, first of all he needed to ensure Izaya, that he wouldn't hurt him. He was still angry like shit at the unknown person, who had hurt the raven, but he forced himself to restrain his strength and make his voice as relaxed as possible.

"Izaya, it's not like that. I won't hurt you. So please open your eyes."

He was surprised by the calmness in his voice himself, before the Informant opened his eyes again, still not really believing, what he had heard.

"Why?"

The quiet voice of the man was too much for Shizuo. This vulnerable behavior, the sad eyes reflecting the stars in shining red, and this calm and honest voice, sounding as if it was totally normal for them to chat... Really, how could the normally so annoying and dubious man become this cute? In mere seconds Shizuo seemed to experience a switch of his inner life in the opposite direction. Suddenly he felt the strong urge to protect the small man before him, he had used to hate so much, that he had always been trying to kill him.

"I won't hurt someone, who's already hurt. So tell me already what happened. Who hurt you?"

Shizuo had problems breathing, when the sad smile appeared again on the Informant's face.

It was a beautiful sight, he was experiencing right now, but the seriousness of the situation hit him again and he was still wondering somehow, if this moment could really be real.

"And there I have always thought, that you're the biggest monster I've ever met, but it seems I was wrong."

"What do you-"

"You probably didn't know, but there are monsters outside, that are way more dangerous than you. And to defeat them, you have to turn into one yourself. It seems I've defeated you in that aspect, Shizuo."

_Shizuo?_ Never before he had heard the man say his name like that. It had always been Shizu-chan, the monster, the beast, the protozoan. And now the man was just saying it, as if it had never been different. But he was not only calling him differently, but he was indeed also saying, that Shizuo wasn't the _real _monster.

To Shizuo it felt like the raven was somehow acknowledging him. He had always thought Izaya had seen him like some stupid animal, that wasn't worth living, but now the man made himself seem to be even less worth living than Shizuo. What the fuck had happened that it could cause some drastic change like that?

Suddenly Izaya's eyes fluttered in pain, when his hand pressed harder against his shoulder. Just now Shizuo realized, that the man was behind all those drops of blood on his face really pale. He must have been in this state for quite a long time already.

Without thinking any longer, he decided to act and approached the raven. One arm putting around his waist, the other one putting behind his thighs, he took the Informant up bridal style.

"WHAT THE-" the man protested, trying to push himself away from Shizuo's chest with his free hand, while the other one was still holding the wound on his shoulder.

"Don't complain! You're hurt and I'll bring you to Shinra. So shut up for a moment! But remember: Later I want you to tell me, what happened."

Shizuo tried to speak as few as possible with the man. Izaya had been beautiful before, but now the raven was also blushing and he had to control himself to not look in that beautiful face and lose himself in it. The sudden chaos in his feelings even grew, when he felt the small figure, he was holding in his arms, lean against his chest. His body heat rose to dangerous degrees and he had serious problems with thinking straight at the moment.

Staring to the front, he was just glad, that the Informant didn't decide to protest any longer, when he was still not sure, what he was even doing. He feared, that he could away something of his real feelings right now, if he was going to talk with him.

Suddenly his breathing stopped, when he felt a small hand clench to his shirt and he couldn't prevent his face from blushing a bit.

Never before the way to Shinra had seemed to be that long to him.

* * *

Shinra was watching TV with Celty, when the doorbell suddenly rang.

He cursed the stupid person, that was coming over at that time of the night. Originally he had tried to get closer to his beloved Celty while watching a romantic DVD, because she seemed to be really into that kind of stuff.

He had already managed to put an arm around her waist, their sides already touching, making the atmosphere become really erotic - but then this stupid doorbell rang and destroyed everything. He wanted to just ignore it and pretend, he hadn't heard anything, but Celty asked him, if he didn't want to go to the door.

_"It might be something important, when it's this late."_ She typed at her PDF and with this it was decided, that he had to leave the addicting body heat of his love and go the cold and lonely way towards the door.

_I swear by god, I'll kill that person outside there, whoever it is. _He enraged mentally, when he opened the door saying: "THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?"

But his eyes widened immediately, when he saw Shizuo standing there with a pretty bloody Izaya in his arms.

"He's hurt." The blonde said shoving Shinra to the side and walking past him without saying anything more. This one was just standing there with open mouth not believing, what he had just seen.

When Shinra finally found his mind back, he closed the door and followed the man inside the living room, where this one placed the raven cozily on the couch.

_The fuck?!_ The doctor couldn't believe his eyes! He had never seen Shizuo acting that careful with another person and then the one, he was first doing it with, was no one else than Izaya Orihara! Weren't those two supposed to hate each other?

"Shinra, come over here already!"

Shizuo's angry voice took him back to reality and he decided to first fulfill his duties as a doctor, before he started thinking about the nonsense, that was happening at the moment.

When he approached the couch, he saw that the situation was indeed serious. Although Izaya was still conscious, he was covered in blood and his face was white like snow.

"What happened?" he asked in unison with Celty, who was typing the same question in her PDF.

Shizuo was just standing there not saying a word, while he watched Izaya with worried, but also curious eyes. But this one was just looking to Shinra, being a lot more serious than usually. It wasn't like Izaya had never come to Shinra being hurt, but the man had always been grinning and joking around about his wounds and what Shinra would do, if Izaya was going to do. But this time the man was pretty calm - too calm.

It distracted the doctor, just like the fact, that those two weren't trying to kill each other, but he just decided to ignore it, too. Whatever it was, that had happened, he was going to find it out later.

"Well, I got shot in the shoulder a few hours ago." A hoarse voice answered.

"Celty, please get Izaya a glass of water.", Shinra told her, before he faced the raven again and sighed.

"Really, a few hours ago? No wonder, that you're so pale. It's a miracle that you haven't bled to death yet." He said approaching the man and trying to get a closer look at the wound. While that he noticed Shizuo tensing at his comment. What made him that worried about the raven? Was it because he was feeling guilty?

Shinra throw a questioning glare towards Shizuo, but the unspoken question was answered by Izaya, who touched the doctor's arm slightly.

"It wasn't him. He helped me." Izaya said, as if it was the most normal thing in the world to defend the blonde, before he took the glass, Celty offered him.

Still Shizuo just stood there unmoved, not saying a word, while he observed the smaller man. Neither Shizuo nor Izaya gave a mint, what was going on between them and the longer this strange situation went on, the more Shinra thought, that he would lose his mind in any second. He knew that something must have happened between them, but the state Izaya was in, reminded him, that he needed to do something, if he didn't want the man to die.

"You lost a lot of blood, but I think, I can handle that. The bullet is still inside your shoulder. I need to take in out, but I won't do it here. So Shizuo, could you please bring Izaya to the next room."

Shinra watched Izaya's expression carefully, when he asked Shizuo to carry him. He expected Izaya to protest, but instead he looked directly into Shizuo eyes. He couldn't define, what he saw in that expression. It wasn't hate or disgust, or anything of what he had expected. It was more a questioning and unsure look, as if the Informant was asking the blonde, if he would really help him. He had never seen such an uncertainty in Izaya's eyes.

It became even stranger, when Shizuo pulled the raven up without saying a word, and Izaya's expression changed into one, that gave away the feeling of safety, he was experiencing in Shizuo's arms. Shinra saw Izaya relaxing while clinging to Shizuo's shirt as if his life depended on it.

_Izaya feeling safe near Shizuo. That I would still experience something like that. _He thought already preparing the operation, while Shizuo put Izaya on the bed in the operation room.

* * *

Shizuo was waiting in the living room with Celty sitting on the big table facing each other. Shinra had told him, that he could go home, after he had brought Izaya in the operation room, but he couldn't just go home and rest, pretending as if nothing had happened.

It wasn't like he thought Izaya would be going to die any minute. Shinra had told him, that the Informant had lost a lot of blood, but that he had enough blood transfusions. It would still be easy to get out the bullet and to sew his wounds. Izaya would just need to rest a while after that. According to the blood lost, he was pretty weak at the moment and it was a miracle, that he had still been conscious, when Shizuo had brought him there.

However, he felt that he was a little worried about the man, because of his earlier behavior. Izaya had been so calm and ... cute towards him, that the thought of leaving him somehow hurt the blonde.

But what was distracting him even more, was the fact, that Izaya had been out there, obviously long enough to nearly bleed himself to death. What had the man been doing running around like that? Shizuo knew, that Izaya wasn't stupid, so why did the man not go just to Shinra immediately?

There were so many questions in his head, that he didn't notice Celty asking him something via PDF, when the woman suddenly touched his arm. He rose his head in shock, when he had totally forgotten about the Dullahan right before him, only to get the PDF shove right into his face.

_"What had happened between Izaya and you?"_ it said.

Shizuo needed a moment, before he could answer. "I found him like that and carried him to you."

_"Yes, but why are you acting so different?" _

"How am I acting different?"

_"You are not enraging while being close to him and he's actually feeling safe in your arms. Where's that not different?"_

Shizuo's eyes widened at that statement. "You think, he felt safe?"

_"It was obvious. When Izaya first came here for Shinra to treat him, he didn't like even him coming too close, but now he lets you touch him like that without protesting. It's not normal for him to be that touchy with someone - especially with you. Why aren't you trying to kill each other?" _

He ignored the joy rising inside of him after the idea, that Izaya could feel safe with him, and tried to concentrate on Celty's question. But how was he supposed to answer something, that he himself didn't even understand?

"It's ... complicated." he tried to formulate an answer. "Izaya was acting so different, that I couldn't think clear. I just felt the need to help him."

Celty just sat there a moment, before she typed something in her PDF again.

_"Do you know, why he was acting that way - or why he got shot?"_

"Not really." Shizuo answered. Suddenly the man from a few months ago appeared in his mind.

"You know, I haven't seen the flea for months and the last time I saw him, he was together with a guy. They seemed to be pretty close, before I got angry and knocked him out."

After his last word Celty jumped up from her seat and typed something on the PDF as fast as she could. When she hold it right before the blonde's eyes, there stood:"Can you tell me, what this guy looked like?"

Shizuo tried to get back the image of that bastard in his head. That time he had been more concentrating on the pervert's hands, that were going around the flea's thin waist, that it took him a moment to remember any details about the man.

"There's not much: Black suit, blonde hair, blue eyes. He was young, about my age, I guess, and taller than the flea, probably about a head taller. Why?"

"_I think, Izaya called me that day to pick him up and bring him to Shinra. It was late at night and when I came there, a street sign was lying across the man's body."_

Shizuo's eyes widened. "What happened then?"

"_I took him here. He had a serious head wound and Shinra treated him. The next day, Izaya came and talked to him."_

The blonde gulped, when he heard that. What was this guy to Izaya?

"Do you know, what they talked about?"

_"Not really. I just heard, that they wanted to meet again, when Shinra allowed the man to work again. After all, he was seriously hurt." _

"Do you know his name?"

_"I think, it was Fudo. That's at least, what Izaya called him. If you want to know more, then you have to ask Shinra. I didn't talk to him at all."_

Shizuo sighed. So Izaya had probably already met that guy again. When he had watched them, they had seemed to be so close, that the sight distracted him. Izaya had shown that guy a smile, that he had never seen on the Informant's face before, and the thought, that some stupid bastard, that didn't mean anything to him, could manage something like that, enraged him like hell.

He just needed to find out, what the man meant to Izaya - And what had happened the night before. The blonde didn't like the idea, that Izaya was probably being touched willingly by him, therefore he imagined, that this scene, he had acknowledged happened against the Informant's will. Yes, Izaya had smiled, but that smile had vanished, and was replaced by surprise, when the man had touched him.

So could it be possible? Then it might also be, that this bastard had hurt the raven, when this one wasn't willed to do, whatever the man wanted him to do. On the other, Izaya definitely knew a lot of dangerous people, so it wasn't really clever to concentrate on one sole man.

_There are monsters outside, that are way more dangerous like you._ That was what Izaya had said. "Monsters being more dangerous than him"? More dangerous in the meaning of being stronger than him? Was that even possible?

On the other hand, the fact that Izaya got hurt in that way, the one, who did this, must be strong compared to him. Because, when it came to Izaya, Shizuo had never managed to capture him. So this person succeeded in something, Shizuo hadn't been able to do in over 6 years: capture Izaya and hurt him in a way, that he's on the edge to death.

The blonde gritted his teeth. Whoever that person was, he would find him and check, if he could really be called a "monster".

Celty had sat there watching Shizuo thinking about the facts, he had just heard. It seemed the man knew something, Celty wasn't aware of, and now the thought was taking him away from reality. It wasn't like Shizuo to ask all these questions. Normally he would just walk out the door and handle everything on intuition. She had never really seen him brood over something that hard, and the fact, that it was related to Izaya Orihara, might indicate, that it wasn't something good. Though she was also worried about the man right now, she didn't really like the things he had done in the past, and now it seemed, that he had managed to get Shizuo into some complicated trouble, that made him act in a way, she didn't really appreciate. She snapped with her fingers to bring to man back to reality.

_"Why are you asking all these questions?"_

Shizuo hesitated, before he answered. "I just want to know, what happened. Do you understand?"

_"Yes, I do. But don't worry. Shinra will help him. I'm certain Izaya will tell us later, what happened."_

She was glad, to see Shizuo's shoulders relax a bit, after he had read her answer.

"Thank you, Celty. You really always manage to calm me down."

Though the worried expression on Shizuo's face distracted her, she felt the urge to reassure him, that Izaya would be fine. _How could a relationship change like that in only one night?_ she wondered, but she hadn't much time to think more about the different acting friend, when the door to the operation room opened and Shinra stepped out.

Both of them rose from their seats in anticipation waiting for the results.

"He's fine. But he wants to talk to you Shizuo."

And with that the doctor stepped away.

* * *

When Hayato Yamaguchi entered the scene of the crime the crime scene investigation unit was already there. He passed the yellow band saying "Do not pass" and approached the place, where most people were standing.

"Kimura-san, what do we have here?" he asked his chief inspector, when he recognized the man in the crowd of forensic specialists.

The older man turned around and gave Hayato the signal to come closer.

When he stood next to the man, Kimura told the man covering the corpse with a cloth to show it to the younger one.

This one just nodded and pulled the cloth away not flinching a second - but Hayato stopped breathing for a moment, when he saw the evidence of some brutal procedure before his eyes. Never had he seen a corpse, that was in such a bad state.

Everywhere was blood! He couldn't even define the sex of the victim clearly. He could see at least three shot wounds, but the worst sight were the missing fingers and the burned face of the person, that seemed to be a man at a closer look.

"Why-?" he started, when he found his words back, but his superior interrupted him.

"He cut off the fingers and burned the face, so we won't find out, who the victim is. The one, who did this, knew exactly, what he was doing." After a few seconds he added: "Placing the corpse in a crowded area like this shows that he's not afraid of us."

Kimura turned around walking a few meters away and lit a cigarette.

"What do you think? The procedure remembers me of the Yakuza." Hayato said, after he finally joined him. Kimura was looking in the distance blowing the smoke away.

"Maybe. Let's wait for the forensic results. I wonder, if he was tortured before he died."

"What gives you that idea?"

"A person, who knows to remove identifying features, isn't stupid enough to fail to shoot the head three times." He said having a deep puff of his cigarette.

"So you think this was on purpose?"

"Probably. But whoever this was, he was fucking angry. It must have been something personal. Let's hope, that this person doesn't have any more acquaintances, he wants to settle an account with."

And with that he threw the cigarette on the ground and walked away.


	4. Chapter 4: Find the target

**Chapter 4: Find the target...**

"You know, I was very happy, when you called me and asked me to meet you, Izaya." Fudo smiled.

They were sitting opposite each other in a small café in Shinjuku. Both of them were drinking a cup of coffee. Around them were a lot of people chatting in friendly voices and from their table, which was located next to a big window, they could look out to the street, where a glorious sun was luring a big amount of people outside.

Izaya had been the one, who had decided on the location. It was popular and crowded. They weren't standing out, when they seemed to be two normal friends discussing their lives over a cup of coffee. It wasn't conspicuous and like that Fudo wouldn't be able to attack him or do anything else unforeseen, if he didn't like the things Izaya was going to tell him.

All in all, Izaya wasn't thinking of Fudo as an uncontrollable or foolish guy, but he still wasn't trusting him enough to talk to him in some isolated area. Meanwhile Fudo was probably thinking, that Izaya met him in a café because the atmosphere was friendlier and more comfortable than in some dark office.

"I'm happy to hear that. I actually wanted to talk to you about the problem, we had talked about the last time: Shizuo Heiwajima. "

"And now I thought, this was going to be like a date: Enjoying each other's company, while talking about our loves and hates." Fudo's smile grew wider and Izaya could see the intimating glance, the man was giving him. Whatever the man's motives were, he obviously still hadn't given up on Izaya. The raven wasn't sure, if he liked that behavior or not. Still he was in no way interested in the Yakuza staff.

He didn't want to continue his friendly attitude, if the man was indeed thinking, that Izaya was interested in him. On the other hand it could be possible, that the blonde was going to be manipulated easier like this.

"Well, I'm sorry to dash your hopes. I hope you understand, that this is a topic I would like to discuss first. By the way, don't you have any questions? The last time we met, I had the feeling, you weren't feeling very well with my request to forget about your idea of taking revenge on Shizuo."

While Fudo kept his friendly behavior, Izaya's aura was cold. For him it was more like a business settlement and he didn't feel the need to feign some friendly attitude. Indeed this topic was important to him, because on one hand he didn't want to lose Shizuo to some Yakuza staff, on the other hand he needed someone, who had close contact to the Katsu-kai. If he could have both, depended on the actions of the man, who was sitting in front of him taking a sip of coffee, not knowing how decisive his later actions could be.

"That's true. I wanted to know more about your relationship to Shizuo Heiwajima. It must be deep, otherwise you wouldn't be that serious right now. This seriousness doesn't suit the Izaya, I got to know. Furthermore I heard, that you two are considered archenemies in Ikebukuro. That's why , I don't understand, why you like to let him live instead of being dead."

"I will be honest with you, Fudo. I know Shizuo for a very long time and I know exactly, what he's capable of. He might be able to kill you, if you approached him, but that's not, what I'm worried about."

Fudo took a next sip, while his smile decreased a bit, after he had heard Izaya's words. When he looked back in the Informant's eyes, this one could see, that Fudo was finally as serious as him about this topic. Though Izaya noticed, that there was something close to the passion of competing in a challenge in the color of his eyes.

"I'll just ignore the fact, that you somehow called me weak. " Fudo answered and his smile appeared again on his face showing a row of shining teeth. "However, if he's that dangerous, why didn't you kill him years ago?"

"It's complicated and I can't tell you everything, but as you know, there are a lot of dangerous people out there, I'm dealing with. And with Shizuo being one hell of a monster, I have always thought, that he might be able to help me one day, if it got really dangerous. That's why, I haven't given up on him yet."

Fudo became silent for a moment. Izaya saw that the blonde let the said things go through his head, though he couldn't see, if it was in the man's approval. The Yakuza staff was lost in thoughts while looking into his cup of coffee seeming to drown in his own reflection.

Izaya already thought, that the man might have forgotten about him, but he didn't want to disturb him and make him see, how desperate he actually was in that matter. Still he knew that he could be pretty impatient sometimes , and right now the long waiting annoyed him like shit.

He managed to control himself and not blurt out something stupid, which he would have to regret later, but slowly he began to ask himself, what the man was taking so long for.

What was wrong with him, thinking about something that easy so long? It was _easy_, wasn't it? Didn't he use clear words? _Shizuo might be useful. That's why it would be a shame to kill him. _Wasn't that something, that absolutely sounded like him, the infamous Informant? Wasn't it something, _every _somehow corrupted Yakuza staff could say?

Taking advantage of something as special as Shizuo was more than normal and rational, so why would Fudo not understand? Would he let a chance like that just pass by? The chance to be able to use Shizuo's abnormal strength for himself - please, nobody would be as stupid!

So why was he thinking for so long? Wasn't he as clever as Izaya had thought of him to be?

Izaya got more and more frustrated, when he already thought that the man probably didn't believe him his story, but suddenly this one raised his head again and met his impatient gaze with a serious expression.

"There's really no deeper meaning in your actions?" Fudo asked, directly looking into the raven's eyes.

Was the man testing him? Testing, if Izaya would show some kind of emotion or flinch, that would somehow give away his true motives? The Informant didn't know, but Fudo's eyes were piercing and he had the feeling, that the man could look directly through him.

_Be careful. _He couldn't let the man notice anything of what was really going on inside of him.

"Deeper meaning?" he asked back instead, not wanting to rush into an answer.

"You know: Something buried in the past of you two. Something placed in the spectrum between love, friendship and hate?" And at that the man's voice became somehow more sensitive than before, as if he was expecting Izaya to have some secrets including Shizuo - that could be painful for him and he actually didn't want to share with someone.

_Do I look that pathetic? Shizu-chan is a monster! How could there be anything more? I'm not into bestiality. Really... _

The mere thought of him having something with Shizuo was already stupid, but the fact that this man was actually expecting Izaya to have something like feelings going in the direction of inner pain because of some stupid guy, he had shared a third of his life with, was ridiculous.

Really, what was this man thinking of him? Sure, he had flirted a little bit with him somehow, but just in a friendly manner. Something like that was absolutely normal for him, but the blonde obviously hadn't understand his usual behavior.

The whole time Izaya had thought about the man, Fudo was observing him with friendly and understanding eyes, and the raven could tell that it was pissing the shit out of him. Somehow the Yakuza staff had took a liking to him and was now acting, as if he was some fragile little boy that had suffered by some traumatizing accident.

This pitying behavior nauseated him. He hated it when other people were pitying him.

Izaya sighed. _Such a nuisance. _

He forced a smile on his lips.

"No. Nothing like that. You don't have to worry, Fudo." he said friendly. It cost all his strength at the moment, because he rather wished to scream the man in his seat for giving him that look.

His anger diminished, when the man finally smiled again and got his old behavior back. Izaya was glad, but he cursed mentally, when he noticed that Fudo was going to take his hand. Both of his hands were holding the cup and didn't notice the movement fast enough to bring his hands back to his body, before the other could get hold of his right hand and place his own on it.

He knew that the gesture was meant to be friendly and maybe to show the attachment of the other man, but he could just puke again when the feeling of being pitied spread inside his body.

Oh, how much he would just like to stab his switchblade in this hand, while he had to keep this smile in his face and control himself to not move a bit.

Fudo on the other hand seemed to be happy that Izaya didn't mind that he touched him.

"Izaya, please just be careful. If he gets too dangerous, we should just finish him off before he gets close to you." And his eyes were shining of something, that Izaya would consider to be love, while his voice was dripping with friendliness.

_Disgusting. _

"Sure~" he chirped and he was surprised himself, that he could still act that friendly when he would rather jump up and storm out of the café. He hated that whole scene: the music in the background, which was definitely a love song (how unfortunate), the girls at the table next to them, that were all blushing because of that stupid guy with the shining blue eyes, who was holding his hand like in some stupid romance story professing his love.

Everything was just so kitschy. And still he couldn't do anything. Because doing something against this disgusting scene would mean, that Izaya wasn't interested in him at all and then the man would probably cut connections with him - and as long as Izaya hadn't got a Plan B to get into contact with the Katsu-kai, he wasn't willed to let that happen.

"Good then." Fudo said and let finally go of his hand. "Well, it has become pretty late." And he hesitated for a moment. "Would you like to go somewhere else?"

Izaya's eyes widened.

_My chance!_

He pretended to be utterly surprised and threw a shocked look at his watch.

"What, it's already that late!? I'm sorry, Fudo, but I actually had another meeting this evening. I hope, you don't mind, if I disappear now?" And with that he made an apologizing gesture with his hands in the man's direction.

At first this one seemed a bit surprised, but then he just laughed and stood up.

He went around the table and offered Izaya his hand.

"Of course not." He said and helped the raven, who had took his hand more or less willingly, up.

Side by side, they walked out of the café. When Izaya saw the girls grinning in their direction a last time, he was happy, that Fudo had let go of his hand, so they weren't walking like an actual couple.

He heard what the girls were saying and couldn't prevent himself from blushing a bit, when he heard the rest of their discussion.

"Whaah, what do you think?! You think, they are going to do it now?!"

"Of course! They were so cute together just a moment ago! I swear the blond is so much in love with his cute lover, he's going to devour him!"

"Oh my god, I wished I could go with them and watch!"

"I hope, they'll at least kiss outside! They are both so handsome, I want to see them kiss! Ahhh!"

How could some girls be that perverted? He couldn't hear the last words, when they went out of the door, but he hoped that Fudo at least hadn't heard anything of that embarrassing conversation.

_It would only give him some weird ideas..._ Izaya thought and he hoped that the man hadn't really fallen for him like those girls had wished him to be. The raven wouldn't prefer to be _devoured_ by the blonde. Though he didn't dislike him and liked the idea of being loved by someone, he wasn't interested in him. It was a feeling, he just couldn't change.

_Don't take it personally, Fudo. It has nothing to do with you. _

Fortunately the parting of them was very short and dull, though Fudo gave him a fleeting kiss to the cheek before he went in the opposite direction.

Izaya decided to went home and rest for a bit. After all the night would be very long and exhausting for him, if it ended the way he was thinking of.

Fudo's behavior still irritated him. He didn't know whether the man was a genius and was only playing this whole flirting thing or not?

Izaya had never thought about the idea of being loved before. The last years he had been busy with work and trying to get more access to the Yakuza. That's why he wasn't really informed about this kind of thing, though many people had tried to flirt with him according to his good looks. But mostly he had just ignored them or gave them some bold answers, that would made them shut up.

Although Izaya had often a somehow flirting or inviting behavior himself, when he danced along the street or cheated friendly with others, he had never become really good at recognizing if someone was _really _serious with him or not.

Of course, sometimes there had been those naive girls attached to his looks at enchanted by his sweet words, and he had thought that some of those girls could have actually been in love with him - but he knew, that most of them were just stupid enough to believe him his plays and didn't know him at all.

They weren't interested in him, but in the ideal of a man he had given them. They just saw what he wanted them to see and he felt powerful when he noticed that manipulating others could be that easy.

Like that they had been at least good test objects for him.

Though sometimes he felt a sting of disappointment inside of him, when none of them ever tried to get to know his true self and look behind the facade.

But Fudo seemed to be different. The man obviously wanted to know him- the real him. And he seemed to be concerned about his problems - concerned enough to even fight Shizuo.

No one was ever concerned enough about him to actually approach the beast. Nearly everybody know that Izaya and Shizuo had that special relationship, but nobody ever dared to interfere. They would all let him alone in that aspect. Don't approach the infamous Informant of Ikebukuro when it comes to the Yakuza and the bartender! You'll only die. That's what everybody thought.

At some point they were too scared or too confused by his actions.

Why was he enraging the beast on and on? Why was he dealing with the Yakuza on a daily routine? They couldn't find an answer. And he couldn't just give them one. Sometimes life was too complicated to be explained by words.

However, at some point they seemed to know: this far and no further also. And then they would just forget him or they would just never ask and pretend to not notice anything, until he would get bored of them and let them fall.

Probably Fudo was different because he was a Yakuza staff himself. The raven didn't know what the man might have experienced in the past. He hadn't found out anything special by himself, but he would surely ask him some time, in whatever direction this relationship would go.

No question, Fudo was different because he wasn't afraid of Izaya, of Shizuo or of anyone else.

There weren't many people in his life like that. There was Shinra, who seemed to get along with nearly everyone, then Shiki, who was a Yakuza staff himself again, and then there was Shizuo himself - the monster of Ikebukuro.

The image of the man brought back the memories of their last encounter.

Izaya blushed. Back then, in the moment Shizuo approached him, he hadn't had the strength to fight or argue with the man anymore. He didn't even care, if the beast would punch him or not. Surely, his wounds had weakened him, but the haunting memories from years ago, that had come back when he had killed Jirou, were the real reason, why he couldn't fight back at that time - let alone run away.

Suddenly he hadn't been able to oppress the painful feelings anymore, that had streamed through his whole body. The only reason why he hadn't gone berserk right after, were his serious wounds, which prevented him from moving his body too much.

When Shizuo had suddenly approached him, his first thought had been _Fuck! I'm going to die!_

First he had thought of running away, but then it had hit him - there had been no way out. He couldn't run away. He couldn't even fight.

That was when he had decided : _Whatever_ ... Hopefully, the blonde wouldn't kill him and the beating would soon be over. So he just closed his eyes and waited - but the punishment never came.

And then the embarrassing part had started.

Back then he hadn't cared, but now his behavior embarrassed him like hell and he would rather be swallowed by the ground than to remember the pathetic situation.

How could he have been stupid enough to show that side of him to another person? And then that person had been no one else than Shizuo Heiwajima, his long-standing archenemy!

In addition to that, the behavior of the blonde had made the situation even worse.

His face blushed even more, when he remembered the soft words the man had spoken to him, and those strong arms, that had made him feel so safe ...

Why had Shizuo acted so friendly towards him? Caressed him with those hands? Showed the wish to protect him from anything dangerous?

He couldn't find an answer to that question and he wouldn't go straight to the man and just ask him. Right now, he didn't even know how to approach him ever again after what had happened between them - after what he had let Shizuo see of him.

Definitely this situation already changed their relationship, but he couldn't say what would happen if he was going to see the man again.

Shizuo wouldn't just chase him like normally, would he? But then, what was the beast going to do, if they met again?

Ahh! Really, the man was so fucking unpredictable and it irritated him like shit.

However, he couldn't get diverted by the thoughts of the man now. He had never been that close to reach his goal, but he had also never been that confused before either.

He didn't know, what to think of Fudo- He didn't know, what to think of Shizuo. The first one was trying to gain access to his private life as it seemed, while the second one would just never leave his mind.

And then again there were those strings he had to pull, if he wanted to achieve his goal.

_Stop now! Concentrate on the next step! _

After all he couldn't allow himself to get distracted by such a thing called love.

* * *

"You bastard! Pay the fucking money back! Who would be stupid enough to borrow money to begin with?!"

Shizuo threw the vending machine, he was holding above his head, in the direction of the guy, that was just pissing the shit out of him.

He could still hear Tom shout "Calm down, Shizuo!" before, but the words were suppressed by the anger that was flowing through his veins.

Fortunately the vending machine didn't squash the man, but he still had a serious head injury and Tom was forced to call an ambulance if he didn't want the man to die.

Right after Shizuo had noticed that his reaction was probably a bit exaggerated, when Tom had already pulled him away from the scene of the accident knowing that someone would help the man, until the ambulance would arrive.

They were going in silence for a while and Shizuo began to feel ashamed for his earlier behavior, because he knew exactly that it had been unmeant for.

The guy, he had nearly killed, wasn't different from the usual guys he had to deal with. But still he had got enraged so easily the whole day and this man was the final straw.

The silence between them already told him, that Tom was somehow angry at him, before this one finally stopped and turned around to him.

His eyes didn't show any hint of anger. But what Shizuo could see in them was even worse - disappointment.

"Really Shizuo, I don't know what's wrong with you lately, but I guess that this leads nowhere. We should just stop for today and go home."

"I'm sorry, Tom. I know, that, what I just did, was wrong." Shizuo answered with quiet voice, but didn't avoid the accusing look of his friend.

This one just sighed.

"It's fine, I guess - as long as the man isn't going to denounce us." He waited for a moment, before his eyes became friendly and he placed a hand on Shizuo's shoulder. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Shizuo waited. He was happy to have a friend like Tom, that would still worry about him, although he had just done something really terrible. But still he couldn't tell Tom anything about what happened. Not because he didn't want to, but because he himself didn't understand, what had actually happened.

Also, if he told him that his behavior had something to do with Izaya, he would probably just say, that he didn't understand why Shizuo was still dealing with the man and that he should just ignore the Informant.

_Ignore him... _

How could he ever do that? After what had happened between them, it wasn't less possible than ever.

How could he tell his friend, that he somehow started to _care _for his archenemy? Though he wasn't sure if he liked to man or not now, because - though he was pissed at the man, because Izaya hadn't told him anything - what he felt for the man at the moment wasn't hate or love, but absolute curiosity.

He wanted to get to know Izaya. Because after all these years he had thought he knew the man, but this one night had pulled him out of his imagination and showed him the truth.

He didn't know Izaya at all.

But how was he supposed to explain something like that to Tom?

_Listen, Tom! I'm acting that way because I'm distracted by Izaya. I met him and he was acting totally different. I don't know what had happened, and I don't know what he had done or thought. I also don't know what he's up to. But I want to know, because I somehow started to care about him. However, the flea doesn't want to tell me anything. That's why I'm a little pissed right now- or more likely the whole last week. _

He couldn't say that, could he?

"I'm sorry, Tom. I can't tell you now. But thank you. I'm glad to have a friend like you." He answered instead and a friendly smile appeared on his face.

"I see. It's okay, I don't mind, but please try to be a little more relaxed tomorrow." Tom said and withdrew his hand from Shizuo's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'll try. Bye then."

And with that they separated and went into different directions.

While walking towards his home Shizuo lost himself in thoughts again. Of course, the flea had often been on his mind, but never in that dimension.

Normally Izaya would just appear in his thoughts, when he was angry or some shit happened, where he would immediately think:_ Izaya has his hands in it. _

Nevertheless this would soon stop and he could start his daily routine again.

But not this time. Izaya was on his mind 24/7. He couldn't eat without thinking about him, he couldn't work without being distracted by him and he couldn't sleep without dreaming about him. Izaya was everywhere.

How could the raven do something like that to him? The Informant had drawn Shizuo's attention to his whole existence, so he wouldn't be able to think about anything else. He had made Shizuo worry about him, protect him, carry him - And then when Shizuo had finally thought, that he could get some answers to all of his questions, the man had just sent him away.

Shizuo got angry again, when he remembered their last encounter at Shinra's. He had been happy, but also excited, when Shinra had told him that Izaya had wanted to talk to him. But he had never heard what he had wanted to hear - the truth.

* * *

_"Shinra said you wanted to talk to me?" _

_The raven looked still pale, but seemed to be stronger than before. Still he seemed to be very serious at the moment, what was very unlikely for the man, Shizuo knew for so long. _

_"Shizu-chan, I want you to forget, what happened."_

_"WHAT?!"_

_"I guess there are a lot of questions in you. But I have to say, that I can't give you any answers to them at the moment. Believe me, it's complicated and definitely something you don't want to play a part in. So it will be easier for you to just forget about anything." _

_The raven was cold towards him and it pissed him off. After what he had done for the man, he had expected a friendlier and more thankful behavior. Still he managed to control himself. There was something behind this behavior and he needed to know, what it was. _

_"Is it that you don't want to tell me or that you really can't tell me?"_

_Izaya waited for a moment. "It's both."_

_"So you won't tell me, even if I ensure you, that it's my own decision where I want to play a part in and where not?" _

_The raven looked him in the eyes and Shizuo could already swear, that the man would nevertheless be going to tell him, but then he just said: "It's none of your business, Shizu-chan.", before he turned his head away and looked out of the window. _

_That fucker! How could he?! Shizuo was standing right in front of him offering his help and all he did, was refusing him!_

_That louse should be thankful, that he hadn't punched him to death, when he had the chance to so do so! _

_His fists tightened, while he watched Izaya's back of the head and waited for him to turn around again. _

_But nothing like that happened. _

_Before he lost total control of his body and punched the already hurt man, he stormed out of the apartment slamming the door behind him. _

_Outside he rammed his hand in the next wall leaving a big sinkhole._

* * *

Well, so much to control himself and becoming stronger...

Now that he thought about it again, he would have probably been able to argue with Izaya more about the topic at that time, though the Informant seemed pretty confident in not telling him anything.

But still, there had been a little chance that Izaya really would have told him something, if he had had the strength that time to control himself and just argue rationally.

Fuck him and his stupid anger! It had just destroyed his chance to find out something about what was really going on.

However, it was too late. Izaya was gone and hadn't approached him again since then. Once again, the man was gone from his visual field and Shizuo feared that it could just end the same like the last time he hadn't seen Izaya for very long.

He wished to approach the man again, but he was afraid that Izaya wouldn't tell him anything and he would lose control again.

Fuck it! Why was everything related to the flea so fucking confusing?!

Wasn't it easy?!

Izaya seemed to know everything. Shizuo knew that he knew nothing. Someone seemed to have hurt the flea.

The Solution was : The louse would just tell him everything, so he could go and kick some asses.

Wasn't that simple?! How could the louse always claim to be so clever, but then didn't come to such a simple conclusion?

"Ahh, that stupid flea! How can he dare to irritate me like that?!" he screamed out and some of the people walking close to him enlarged their distance to him.

_Stop that brooding now! It's not like you!_

Shit, it couldn't go on like that! He was always being distracted by that man!

"It's enough! I'll just confront him!"

After all, planning his next steps wasn't like him, so he just decided to walk straight in the direction of Izaya's apartment. His steps became eager after a while and he had just entered the area of Shinjuku, when a familiar face appeared in front of him and blocked his way on.

"If that isn't Shizuo Heiwajima-san. Long time no see."

The man in front of him showed a smile, that could be called friendly, if there wasn't this malice sparkling in his blue eyes.

Though it was the first time he had heard that voice, Shizuo could never forget the face of the man, that had touched the flea in such an intimate manner, and who had been knocked out by him right after.

He didn't know if it was even possible to enrage him even more at the moment, but that bastard definitely managed to make his blood boil.

"Who are you?!" he growled through clenched teeth and he had to control himself to not slam his fist in that annoying smile.

"Not a very friendly way to ask that, but I'll still answer you. My name is Fudo Ishida. We already had the pleasure, if you remember. You interrupted my little date with Izaya Orihara." The man said in a friendly voice that showed, that he didn't fear Shizuo at all.

In comparison to that, the people around them were already leaving the street, when they felt the tension between those two increase - especially the aura around Shizuo, when he heard the words "Date" and "Izaya".

"You bastard! You sure, that Izaya was actually enjoying your company?! Back then it didn't look like that to me, before I beat you." Shizuo hissed and an angry smile appeared on his face, when he saw, that his words had indeed an impact on the other man. Still this one just kept his smile, while his eyes glared angrily at Shizuo.

"Just so you know: I just met my cute raven and he enjoyed my caress a lot." The other man giggled.

_HIS CUTE RAVEN ?! _DID THIS FUCKER REALLY JUST SAY THAT?!

"You bastard?! You dare to say Izaya belongs to you?!"

He didn't care anymore, that he had already nearly killed a man that day. This bastard was pissing him off and he had to take responsibility for it.

_KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL..._

Shizuo grabbed the street sign next to him and pulled it out of the ground.

With all his strength he threw it at the man, but this one was able to dodge it, not in the elegant way Izaya would be able to do, but he still managed to do it without getting hurt.

"Do you really think I would be stupid enough to get hit again? Last time you just stroke me, because I was distracted by Izaya's breathtaking beauty." An evil laugh left the man's voice, because he already knew that every mention of the raven would enrage the beast even more.

Shizuo got already hold of a car standing next to him - but in the moment he wanted to lift it, the man in front of him took out a gun and was pointing it at him.

"Don't worry I'm not going to kill you. I just don't want you to throw a fucking car in my direction. I hope you understand that."

The man was still talking in a neutral tone and it was pissing Shizuo off. How could this bastard act as if nothing was happening?

"Why don't you just fight me like a man, you coward ?! I would smash your head in the dirty bottom and break your skull with my foot!" He hissed, though he let the car fall to the ground again.

"I don't think high of guys, that get killed just because they want to comply the rules of honorable fighting. I would rather like to spatter the streets of Shinjuku with parts of your brain mangled by one of my bullets. Unfortunately I had to promise Izaya that I wouldn't kill you - and I'm a man who keeps his promises."

_What?!_

Did the man just say that Izaya was the one who prevented him from killing Shizuo?

Wouldn't it normally be the other way around? Izaya would hire someone to kill Shizuo and not help him instead.

Really, what had gotten into that flea?

Last time Izaya had already acted strange on himself - it hadn't had anything to do with Shizuo and how he was acting towards him. But right now this had something to do with the relationship between the two of them.

Was it because Shizuo hadn't killed Izaya back then? Was the man actually thanking him secretly with that?

Or was he ...

the thought hit Shizuo hard.

_Putting an end to their hostility. _

Could it be? That this one night should end their old relationship and start a very new one?

More than before (if that was even possible) Shizuo felt the need to meet the Informant.

He didn't care anymore if there was a man aiming a gun at him.

Without even wasting a second thought to the other one he ran to the other side of the street and headed straight into the direction of Izaya's apartment. He could hear the man shout something like "Hey, wait!", but he wasn't willed to get deferred by the man again.

He had to see Izaya. He had to hear the truth- or at least parts of it.

* * *

When he reached the building Izaya lived in, he slammed the front door open screaming the man's name, not expecting to find him stand in front of the door, probably being about to go out.

The raven was wearing his usual jacket closing the door, when the blonde approached him.

He stopped right in front of the surprised Informant.

For a moment neither of them said anything.

Shizuo was scrutinizing Izaya from head to two. Everything seemed to be like always. Only exception was the Katana, the man was holding in his right hand.

Izaya on the other hand just stood there dumbfounded watching the blonde with wide eyes. Though he seemed to be utterly surprised, he was the first one the find back his tongue.

"Yes, Shizu-chan~?"

Shizuo's eyes widened when he heard the familiar tone of the other's voice. After their last encounter he had totally forgotten that Izaya had normally a mocking behavior, that usually pissed him off. Still right now, it seemed to be played and Shizuo wondered what the man was up to.

"Are you alright?" he asked with a serious voice not leaving the Informant's eyes for a second.

"Sure~" this one just chirped and stood there as if nothing had ever happened between them.

Shizuo was irritated. He hadn't expected their encounter to be like this. Why was the man acting like that?

_Forget what happened ..._

Ah. So that was what the man was doing. Pretend that he didn't know anymore what happened. If Shizuo forgot about the whole thing, Izaya wouldn't need to talk about it. Did the raven really think that it was that easy to get rid of him?

Just the moment Shizuo wanted to tackle Izaya about what had happened, the other one said: "Actually I wanted to go somewhere. Does Shizu-chan want to come with me or just stand there doing nothing~?"

The Informant's behavior was mocking like always, but somehow still friendlier. Maybe it were also his new feelings for the raven that stopped the blonde to become angry. Still the situation was strange, but he hoped that he could get answers, if he just followed the raven wherever he would go.

Shizuo stepped aside to signal Izaya that he could let him the way. He asked him, where the raven thought of going, but he didn't get an answer to that.

Together they stepped out of the building walking next to each other. It had become already dark - and more and more minutes were passing while they walked in silence.

Shizuo didn't know how to start a conversation with the smaller man, that would end in some answers. After all, he knew that the Informant wasn't willed to tell him anything.

Why do you want me to live? Who hurt you? Where are we going?

He was so lost in thoughts, that he didn't notice the other man observing him.

"It's not like Shizu-chan to be so calm. What is it? Did you hit your head somewhere?~" And a little chuckle left the man's lips.

Shizuo snapped out of his thoughts, when he noticed, that he somehow admired that giggle. At least this was a lot more comfortable than a serious and uncommunicative Izaya.

"Don't be stupid, flea. Nothing like that happened. It's just that I have to find out everything myself, if you don't talk to me."

He looked directly into the Informant's eyes and could immediately see that Izaya build up an inner wall, not wanting to talk about the things Shizuo wished to know.

_So coming directly to the topic isn't the right way, hm?_

Before Izaya could dissociate from him even more, he raised his voice again.

"Anyway, why are you carrying that thing around with you?" And he pointed to the Katana in the raven's right hand. "That's a lot more dangerous than your little switchblades, you know. "

His plan worked. The raven seemed to have forgotten his earlier words and started to laugh.

"Don't underestimate me, Shizu-chan~. You should know, that I'm pretty good with the Katana. Even better than with switchblades. I just don't use it that often in public, because it's more noticeable than some little blades."

"I would still be able to destroy it, if I wanted to." Shizuo snorted and Izaya showed again that admirable chuckle that escaped his lips.

Had it always been like that? Shizuo only remembered that evil smirk of the man. But this was different. It was ... cute. Right now, he didn't mind that it took him longer to get some answers, as long as Izaya seemed to be happy.

It was weird. But his head was too full with questions and strange feelings, that he decided to just enjoy the moment and stop thinking about anything that had happened.

"Probably. But don't get too full of yourself, Shizu-chan. I think I might be able to hurt you seriously, maybe even kill you with a Katana."

"Still don't think so, flea. You won't be able to cut deep enough with that to really kill me. However, are you trying to kill someone with it? That's why you're carrying it?"

The raven's red eyes met his ones and Shizuo knew that he had been right in his assumption.

"Maybe~ But not right away." Izaya said and kept silent after that.

"What do you mean by that?" Shizuo asked already fearing that the flea was really planning to kill someone.

"If you behave well, you'll soon understand a lot of things, Shizu-chan." The raven said and a knowing smile appeared on his face. However, after that he said nothing more.

Shizuo on the other hand was experiencing a mental merry-go-round, while walking next to Izaya.

Didn't the raven just say that he would soon get some answers? All he had to do was "behave well". What did that even mean? Did it mean Shizuo should just watch, while Izaya was going to kill someone right in front of his eyes?

_There are monsters outside that are way more dangerous than you. And to defeat them you have to turn into one yourself. _

Was that the reason for all the changes of the last days?

First Shizuo had thought that Izaya had been violated by someone. Had been hurt by someone, may it be mentally or physically.

He had thought that Izaya had been experiencing something, that made him show a side of him, that he was normally able to oppress.

This side was kind and understandable towards Shizuo. This side wasn't judging Shizuo for what he was. This side was the side Shizuo had just seen in the night, that had changed everything for him.

All this time he had suspected that Izaya had finally understood, that Shizuo wasn't that bad of a guy. And that this was the reason why Izaya had changed when he was around him.

But when he remembered the words from back then and brought them in relation with the Izaya walking right beside him, he knew the reason, why he was acting so different now.

Normally the man would shout all the time "I love humans", then again he would blame Shizuo for being a monster, saying how much he hated him.

But now he couldn't say anything like that anymore.

And there was only one reason for it:

Izaya was turning into a monster himself.

Or at least that was what the raven thought he was doing.

Right now the same man walked next to him ready to kill potential humans and chatting with Shizuo like a normal person.

That meant after all the changes in their relationship hadn't had anything to do with Shizuo, but only with Izaya's feelings.

The raven had somehow experienced a going of his feelings into the exact opposite direction.

_Just like me, when I had found Izaya covered in blood that night..._ Shizuo thought, but he didn't dare to ask the man beside him.

He had decided to wait, until Izaya would tell him himself.

They were walking for a while now and Shizuo already thought that the Informant was only playing with him, until he noticed that Izaya had let him to Tokyo Bay.

They were going along the harbor and Shizuo was already wondering what the raven could plan to do here.

It was fucking dark and the blonde had problems to define his surroundings. Only the little lights from the street and some boats prevented him from tripping or running against something.

"Oi, Flea, what are we doing here?!"

"Shut up, Shizu-chan. We're nearly there." The other one whispered and the blonde didn't dare to say anything else.

They walked a while longer.

When Shizuo nearly tripped again, he got angry and already wanted to scream at the louse, but the man suddenly stopped and put a hand on Shizuo's mouth.

"Psst." The man silenced him, before Shizuo could hear voices, that were pretty close to them.

He looked in their direction and could see a bunch of men walking near an isolated warehouse. The gate was open and the inside illuminated, so Shizuo could see a lot of people in there. Some of them were carrying big boxes. Others were just standing there chatting. And then he could discern two guys standing on each side of the door, both holding a firearm in their hands.

Before he could say anything, the raven took his right hand and let him behind a container where they both could hide.

"Fuck it, Flea. What do you want to do here?" Shizuo whispered already thinking that the man had finally lost his mind. What was the raven planning? Fighting guns with a katana?! Seriously?!

He shocked even more, when he looked into the raven's direction and saw the smile that was playing around his lips.

"Damn it, Izaya. What's going on?" he whispered trying to get any sense in this illogical behavior.

Just now he noticed that he was very close to the raven. He could clearly see the shining red of his eyes. There wasn't fear or craziness, or anything what Shizuo would have expected to find.

Instead there was only certainty. The flea was definitely sure, that he did the right thing.

Shizuo lost himself a little longer in those eyes, before the raven put his left hand on the blonde's upper arm.

The Informant still had this convincing smile on his lips and Shizuo couldn't say, if that was a good sign or not.

"It's your decision now, Shizuo. Leave and live an ignorant life or fight with me now and get the answers you wish for. It's now or never. So decide!"


	5. Chapter 5: and eliminate it!

**Hey there,**

**you see I'm still alive! I'm soooo sorry for taking so long! :( I hope I'll never take that long again!**

**As an excuse I wrote a little something: At first my new story "Hate lingers inside his heart". **

**Check it out if you like some dramatic, supernatural breakdowns xD**

**And then I wrote, extra for you, a little One-Shot "Fernweh"! **

**You see I wasn't THAT lazy! xD I hope you'll enjoy reading them!**

**Don't forget to review if you like them! Critical reviews make me think about my OTP and writing, so I can improve it. ;)**

**This Chapter is actually FUCKING LONG! I hope you have some free time xD**

**Enjoy reading! **

* * *

"Death is the only god that comes when you call."

Roger Zelazny

* * *

**Chapter 5: ... and eliminate it!**

_It's your decision now, Shizuo. Leave and live an ignorant life or fight with me now and get the answers you wish for. It's now or never. So decide!_

Shizuo couldn't believe his ears. Izaya gave him the choice whether to play a part in his life or not.

But under which conditions?

If he fought at Izaya's side, would he be supposed to kill innocent people? The blonde was at a point, where he started to watch Izaya with different eyes, but he still wasn't sure, if he could trust the man.

Although the raven seemed to be so human in that very night, he couldn't forget the Izaya, he had known before. The old Informant had always pulled the strings in the background and had brought several people in danger. Let alone he had Shizuo get arrested once and lose his job several times. The raven had ruined his life more often than any other person in this world.

Even though Izaya seemed to have changed, he didn't know the motives of the man yet, and he wouldn't just join in some crazy plan and get arrested for something, he didn't even know of.

Did Izaya really think that he was that stupid or naive? Or was he just kidding him like always?

Just because Shizuo hadn't tried to kill him yet, it didn't mean, that he was trusting Izaya with blind eyes. After all, they had been enemies for years now - and that because of _several _reasons.

The fact, that the man still wasn't willed to tell him anything, but had the guts to ask for his help, enraged the blonde. He was captivated between his desire to know the truth and his wish to just punch the man in front of his eyes for not just telling him.

The sole fact enraged him immensely and suddenly something in his head snapped.

Without even noticing it, his hands reached towards the raven and grabbed his shirt stretching it with great force, when he pulled the face of the man angrily closer to his own.

He tried to control his anger and concentrated on the soft lips, that were reflecting the little lights around them. Nevertheless he could feel his blood begin to boil, but he still managed to hiss: "And why should I help you, louse?! I won't attack innocent people, just because you want me to! Don't you dare to think, I'm that stupid!"

The eyes of the man in front of him widened, when he heard the angry response of the blonde. Obviously he hadn't expected the man to get enraged by it that easily.

The raven's smile faded and left an expression of pure surprise. He placed his hands softly on Shizuo's that were still grabbing his shirt tightly.

"Calm down, Shizuo. I don't want you to attack innocent people."

"And I won't let you kill innocent people, flea!" he barked, before Izaya's eyes suddenly became ice cold. The change in the man's expression startled him for a moment making him loosen his grip a bit.

"_He_ isn't innocent, Shizu-chan." the raven said and his voice had a serious and angst-inducing tone, that made Shizuo's flesh crawl.

"What do you mean?"

Though he was still holding Izaya's shirt, he couldn't concentrate on the strength in his hands anymore. The face held in front of him was consuming all of his thoughts. Those bright red eyes of the man, he knew for years now, were filled with wrath - a kind of wrath he had never seen before. It was as if they were almost dripping with flesh-eating blood annihilating whatever would be touched by it.

"I will only tell you everything, if you are going to help me, Shizu-chan." The raven said instead of answering the question.

Shizuo got already angry again, when he heard those words, but the raven continued: "But believe me, Shizuo, those people are working for a man, that owns me a life." And the piercing voice of the smaller man let no doubt, that his words were nothing but true.

There it was again. _Shizuo. _The Informant seemed to only call him that, when he was indeed dead serious about something. Right now, Izaya was showing a side of him, that he would normally oppress.

The last words _A man, that owns me a life _showed, that the man was indeed burning with anger, because of someone, who seemed to deserve death in Izaya's opinion.

Shizuo had never seen the Informant like that before. The red eyes were sparkling in the dark bearing witness of the wrath, that lingered inside the raven. Although they were probably the scariest thing, he had ever seen, Izaya's eyes were still beautiful and Shizuo's breath stopped for a moment admiring them.

He didn't even notice that his anger disappeared, when he lost himself in them. Shizuo's hands let go of the man's shirt.

For a moment neither of them said anything. Shizuo was still lost in his eyes and Izaya, though he noticed that the man had let go of his shirt, didn't want to urge the blonde into answering.

However, when a light from the warehouse- probably a flashlight- was reflected in the red color, Shizuo was pulled out of his trance and found his mind back.

_A man that owns me a life ..._

Suddenly an unbelievable rage arose inside of him again, when he thought about the person, that must have hurt Izaya in such a horrible way to make him that angry.

He remembered the time, he had found Izaya covered in blood and wondered, if it was the very same person, that had hurt him back then.

With that this person wouldn't have only been able to hurt the flea in a way, he had never done, but also to enrage the man to a point, that Izaya seemed to easily forget that Shizuo was his enemy and team up with him to get his revenge.

_Izaya teaming up with him ... _

It was something Shizuo had never thought of.

Right now Izaya was asking Shizuo for help to do something that must have been _very _personal for the man.

In only two nights the raven had shown him expressions, Shizuo had thought the man wasn't even able to show. The blonde had always thought, Izaya was more or less emotionless except for his evil side manipulating his surroundings. But now there was angst, there was sadness and there was _wrath._ More wrath than he had ever seen in his life.

Shizuo wondered if he looked the same way when he was enraged. He knew that most people were afraid of him and said he was scary- but he just couldn't imagine his own face with _such a scary _expression.

Did it probably mean that he and Izaya were alike? Was it possible, that Izaya could just burst out like him?

Shizuo knew that there was only one way to find out.

"Fine. I'm going to help you." He finally answered and heard the relieved sigh, when the raven in front of him finally relaxed.

"I'm glad." Izaya said and Shizuo's heart skipped a beat, when that beautiful smile appeared on the man's face, he had only seen once in his whole life. Back then Izaya had presented it to that bastard Fudo - and Shizuo had been driven by jealousy thinking that he would never get that smile. But now it was only meant for him and Shizuo could feel, that his face blushed a little.

However, Izaya didn't seem to notice, when his eyes became serious again and he turned his head to the warehouse.

"Alright. Right now, there are two groups. One group is a subdivision of the Shinobu-kai, the other one is a subdivision of the Goro-kai. Currently they are in the process of shipping arms to an outpost abroad."

Shizuo woke up from his admiring state again and reminded himself, that he had to take action now. The image of an unknown person hurting Izaya came back to his mind and his skin began to tingle in anticipation. He hadn't been _that_ eager to punch someone for quite a long time now.

He turned his head to the warehouse watching the walking silhouettes and asked: "How do you know all that?"

"I worked for the Shinobu-kai a while ago." The raven said, before facing Shizuo again. "Did you notice the increasing amount of guns in Ikebukuro?"

And at that point Shizuo really remembered several guys holding a gun. He had seen them in the streets, though he had never cared, what those guys were actually doing at that time. While the blonde let those memories go through his head, Izaya continued.

"Well, the Shinobu-kai took more or less unwillingly part in that process and asked me to help them. Through that I got a lot of information about all their businesses. However, the man I'm behind is called Akihiro Goro, the leader of the Goro-kai."

_Akihiro Goro._

Shizuo was sure, that he had never heard that name before.

But the way Izaya was pronouncing it with poison in every letter, showed him, that the man was that bastard. The bastard, who had hurt Izaya.

Shizuo observed the dark silhouettes in the warehouse trying to recognize something. He was ready to fight that guy and get some answers. Finally. A small smile appeared on his face.

"Which one of them is that Goro-guy?"

"That's the problem. He's not here." the raven answered and Shizuo's smile already disappeared.

If the bastard wasn't here, then where was he? If the bastard wasn't here, then why was he here with Izaya watching some random guys?! Shizuo got impatient. What he needed were answers, not more questions!

"I don't understand."

"You have to know, that guys like Goro are pretty cautious. As leaders of a Yakuza organization they have a lot of enemies and don't show themselves often in public. I know, what their organizations are planning, but I have no clue, where the bastard is at the moment."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"This is actually the first time, that the Shinobu-kai and the Goro-kai are trading arms together. You have to know, that the increasing amount of arms in Japan is still a delicate topic for many Yakuza organizations. They fear, that it could turn on themselves. That's why, I'm certain, that this trade is organized by their leaders. We should be able to find out Goro's location by using the present members of the Goro-kai."

"And how are you planning to do that?"

"Fight, obviously~" the raven chuckled. It seems the man had found his usual behavior back.

This was probably the first time Shizuo welcomed it, though it wasn't really the perfect situation for it.

"I got that much." he answered. "Did you see that they have guns? I have my fists and you've got a fucking katana. I'm strong, Izaya, but I'm not stupid."

"Oh come on! Do you want to say the invincible Shizuo Heiwajima is afraid~?"

Was Izaya serious right now?! They were supposed to find someone without dying before! Now wasn't the time for jokes!

"Stop that, flea! I'm not going to get myself killed for you! By the way, how are you even supposed to fight?"

"What do you mean?" the raven asked seriously ignorant.

"You have been shot about a week ago!" Shizuo shouted totally enraged, because the raven didn't seem to notice his condition _at all. _

"Aw, that little scratch~"

"Don't fuck over me, flea!"

"Hey, I'm serious here. I'm just as agile as ever~"

"Damn it, Izaya!"

When a vein of anger appeared on Shizuo's face, Izaya finally stopped the giggling and mocking.

"Ok ok, calm down, Shizu-chan. I have a plan~. I know exactly, how we are going to do it without getting hurt." he said - a self-confident smile appearing on his face.

* * *

The more they reached the end of the treatment, the more people were leaving the harbor, until the groups were split totally up.

When all boxes were finally put into a freighter, only a handful of guys were left. Before there had at least been some talks between the different guys, but now the precious few were mostly only watching each other rarely exchanging words.

Two of them, were often looking at their mobile phones probably checking some important messages. Earlier they had often been talking on the phone. They were probably the most senior staffs leading the different groups.

However, those guys looked alike a lot, because all of them were wearing black suits. The two, that were obviously the leaders, were even wearing dark sunglasses, although it was really dark outside of the warehouse.

Finally one of them put away his phone before talking to the other one directly.

"The arrangements are settled. I hope our trade agreement will be to our both advantage in the future, too."

The other one just did the same and nodded. "I hope so too. We will definitely see each other again soon. Ikada-san, let's go."

A man, that was standing very close to him just nodded, and walked towards the gate of the warehouse. He seemed to be tired, probably due to the late hour of night.

Still he managed to walk with eager steps towards the gate grabbing its door.

But nobody of them would have expected what just followed.

The group leaders were already shaking hands friendly, when they heard a loud **crash** from the direction of the door. Both turned their heads not expecting to see their own staff flying over them. Their eyes followed the movement, until he crashed in the wall opposite from the gate.

Absolutely dumbfounded they observed the man falling unconsciously to the bottom, before they turned both their heads around with matching movements and expressions towards the door. Also their two remaining staffs were standing dumbfounded in the corners of the room.

Mouth gaping they saw the quintessence of pure violence: An angry Shizuo Heiwajima holding a street lamp in his hands.

In the next second they noticed that the gate was broken, only splinters lying on the ground.

Then they watched the man swinging the street lamp like it was only a pen. Before they could even think about what to do, one of them screamed: "Kill the bastard!", but it was already too late.

The street lamp was just flying in their direction with a rapid tempo, that they couldn't even try to protect themselves, before it hit them and they were flying through the room themselves.

When they were hitting the wall just like the other man before , one of the other two men managed to get out of his trance and pull a gun out from under his coat.

But just in the moment he was able to point it at the blonde man, who was walking through the hole in the wall, a fast silver lightning was rushing down his arm.

A horrible scream of pain left his lips, when his arm was slashed open alongside, before he let go of the gun.

In agony he felt to his knees holding the bleeding arm with his other hand.

When he raised his eyes again, he saw a young handsome man with black hair. In his hand he was holding a sword - a katana. Small red drops were dripping down from it to the ground.

"I can't let you kill my partner, can I?~" the raven said and a malicious giggle left his lips.

Desperately the man tried to get hold of the gun again, that was only a few centimeters away from him. But when he reached his healthy arm to it, the raven cut alongside the man's back. Again a painful scream left the man's lips, when the blade was coming through his skin and flesh, before he fell unconsciously to the ground.

"Man, that's not the good way to behave, right?~"

In the other half of the room Shizuo was punching the other remaining man. This one was flying through the wall leaving a big hole in it.

Izaya was watching the scene with great amusement. He hadn't expected it to be that easy.

He had thought that he would at least have to fight a lot more, maybe even getting hurt again like last time. But with Shizuo at his side this was indeed a lot easier.

_Shizuo has just to do, what he always does. I could get used to this. _

A smile appeared on his face.

Just at the moment the blonde was turning around to him again, he saw one of the group leaders finding his consciousness back.

He was lying closer to Izaya, making eye-contact with the raven first.

The Informant could see the anger in the man's eyes, when this one was slowly standing up searching for the gun inside of his suit.

Izaya knew, he hadn't much time. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins in one instance and his hands were holding the sword with utter strength.

Holding up the katana, he ran towards the man, who was pointing the gun at his direction with a fast movement.

_FASTER_. Izaya thought.

_FASTER. _

He saw the gun. He heard the shot. Then it was as if he could clearly see the bullet rushing towards his face.

_Move!_

With one swift movement he repelled the bullet with the blade.

**PLING**. And the bullet was crashing into the nearest wall.

_FASTER_.

**PLING**. The next bullet was conducted by the sword and hit the ground.

_FASTER_.

The man was aiming again at him, but now Izaya was even faster. The fast movements were causing his shoulder to feel painful stitches, but he could ignore them by concentrating on the man in front of him. He swung the sword towards the gun, before the guy could even pull the trigger. A scream appeared from his lips, when the raven cut alongside the man's hand.

The gun was falling to the ground, when the man sank to his knees.

But this time the Informant wouldn't wait for the man to stand up again.

With one swift movement he swung the sword around his own body and stabbed it inside the man's belly before pulling it out again.

Blood was splashing out of the wound. It covered the ground, when the man fell to his knees. It was staining the sword in red and several drops were placed on Izaya's hands and face.

A weak croaking was leaving the guy's mouth before the whole warehouse fell silent.

When Izaya raised his eyes again from the unconscious figure at the ground, he noticed the trace of destruction, they had left - the warehouse had several holes in his walls, slivers of wood were lying everywhere, the massive grey street lamp was still lying alongside the body of one of the group leaders, while the other guys were lying bleeding on the ground - except for the one Shizuo had punched through the wall. The man had flown several meters away and Izaya couldn't even see a hint of that guy. He was definitely unconscious after that punch, probably even dead, too.

In the next moment he saw Shizuo coming closer to him.

The man had his hands put in his trouser pockets wearing a featureless expression. The blonde seemed to be calm, but in fact his face didn't give away a hint of what he was really thinking.

"I've never seen you moving that fast. In fact I've never seen any guy being fast enough to avert bullets with a sword.", Shizuo said stopping in front of the raven. His eyes traced along the sword Izaya was still holding in his hands, eyeing the blood that was dripping down from it.

"Well, there's a lot you haven't seen about me, Shizu-chan~" the raven said mockingly, wiping away the blood drops on his face with the sleeve of his coat. With one swift movement of his arm he let the blood on the sword spray to the ground.

_I already noticed, that I don't know anything about you, Izaya_. Shizuo thought, watching the man putting the sword back into the sheath.

He wondered why he wasn't angrier at Izaya for killing someone right in front of his eyes. Shizuo knew that the raven did that for saving him, but still ... The blonde, though he was fighting regularly, had never seen anyone die. Never.

"What are you doing?" he asked, when the raven walked towards the man, he had just stabbed in the belly and kneed down next to him.

"I'm searching for his mobile phone." this one just answered shortly, looking through the pockets of the man. After a while he hold the silver equipment in his hands searching through the latest messages.

_Boss: Is the treatment settled?_

_Me: Yes. No troubles so far. _

_Boss: Then say goodbye. I will settle the rest with Masuyo-san personally. _

_Me: Understood, Goro-sama. _

Izaya sighed. At least now he knew that this guy he killed was one of Akihiro Goro's staffs, but the latest messages didn't give any hint away of the man's location.

Shizuo watched Izaya typing something into the phone, before he asked: "Why exactly are you doing this?"

The raven continued typing, not looking up from the display for one moment, though he answered:" Until now, we have no idea, where Akihiro Goro is. This one was the group's leader, probably the only one of the guy's here, that would have known, where Goro-san could be. More or less unfortunately I killed him, so he can't tell us anything." He looked up for a moment making eye-contact with Shizuo. "That's why, I'm searching through the man's phone to find something out." He said, before he looked back on the display.

Unfortunately the phone had indeed not one message, where Goro's current location was mentioned. Izaya cursed his misfortune mentally. It couldn't be over here. He couldn't fail just because of this.

He decided to try something. Goro was definitely very cautious. Probably a bit _over-cautious._ If he had luck, Goro would be stupid enough to fall for his trick. Watching his words carefully he started typing.

_Me: Goro-sama, do you wish me to report on the treatment to you personally?_

Izaya waited impatiently. This was his last chance to find out, where the bastard was. Later this whole incident was most probably going to be discovered. If Goro knew, that he and Shizuo had killed some of his staffs, this man would be going to be even more cautious than before. After that, Izaya wouldn't find any other chance to find the man.

_Boss: Yes. I want to know the details. _

Izaya sighed. A smile appeared on his face.

_Me: Location?_

When the message with the address came in, he couldn't prevent himself from cheering out loudly.

"What is it?" Shizuo asked surprised. He had observed Izaya, while looking typing on the phone the whole time. However, just in the moment the raven had got a really serious expression and Shizuo was already thinking, that the man had found out something really terrible, this one was cheering like a little girl, beaming with joy.

Izaya erased the last messages he had written himself with the phone, before he put it back in the man's suit.

When he stood up, a shining smile was covering his face and Shizuo didn't know if this was a good sign or not (though he liked the happily smiling Izaya a lot more than the maliciously grinning one).

"I found out the location, where we can find Akihiro Goro." the raven answered self-confidently.

Shizuo was just about to reply, but in that moment the raven came a few steps closer to him giving him a serious look.

"Shizu-chan, are you going to help me again?"

Shizuo's eyes widened. The blonde hadn't expected that answer. After all, he had begun this because he wanted to know, who that Goro-guy was. Except for the little fighting minutes ago, there hadn't really happened much in his opinion. Those little fights with random guys were more than normal for him, though not everyone he fought had a gun.

However, Shizuo knew, that this was a big deal for Izaya, because the raven had a personal relationship with this man. The blonde on the other hand didn't know the guy at all and normally he wouldn't even care, but Izaya's behavior made him curious, what so special about this guy was.

"Like I said before. As long as we don't kill someone innocent, I'm fine with this." he answered simply.

"Innocence and guilt lie in the eye of the beholder, Shizu-chan." the raven replied with a serious expression and piercing red eyes.

Shizuo sighed mentally. The blonde had just told Izaya, that he was still going to help him, but - of course - the Informant would have to make the discussion even more complicated. Slowly Shizuo got the idea, that this was how Izaya actually behaved. Complicated. Somehow he feared, that this could mean some serious problems for their plan.

"What do you mean by that?" he finally asked. After the discussion they had before the fighting, he felt somehow at ease. Or - probably _at ease _was the wrong word - he just felt less enraged by Izaya's behavior than usual.

Maybe he was getting used to it already?

_Or the fighting has just tired me enough._ The blonde thought ironically, before the raven replied to his question.

"I mean, you don't know Akihiro Goro. Everything you do right now, depends on the fact, that my certainty of him being guilty, is true. Who tells you, that he really is?"

Ahh ... so that was, where this discussion was leading.

"Don't you think I already thought about that, flea?! I decided to trust you in that aspect, before we even started that shit."

Izaya's eyes widened at his response. Though the blonde had expected him to finally shut up, the Informant's eyes became smaller, before an angry expression covered his face.

"And what made you trust me that fast? Normally you are the one, who wants to kill me the most!" the raven shouted.

Of course, Shizuo saw the point in Izaya's words. The fundament of their relationship had been mistrust for years. Shizuo had had his problems with the decision to trust Izaya or not - and of course Izaya would have just the same.

_The wrath in your bloody eyes_. Shizuo thought, but didn't say it out loud. It were those small hints in the raven's eyes giving away his feelings, that made the blonde decide to help him. However, he couldn't just tell the man, that Shizuo was indeed feeling something like sympathy or curiosity regarding the expressions the man was showing - obviously unnoticed by himself.

Would Izaya even believe him, if he tried to explain it? Probably not ...

Shizuo would rather try to calm the man down by other arguments - and convince him.

"I always wanted to kill you before, because I thought you were guilty, too. We are similar in that aspect - Judging people before we even really know them." he said hoping that this would satisfy the man.

Izaya fell silent for a moment. The angry expression had disappeared from his face thinking about the words he had just heard.

_Shizu-chan is helping me, because he thinks we are similar? Would he go that far to attack someone just because of that reason? _Izaya wasn't sure. He didn't see Shizuo as the person, who would do something that dangerous, just because of a small assumption. It wasn't only about the moral problem with attacking or even killing other people, it was also about the fact, that the blonde was putting himself into great danger by helping him.

Izaya knew, that Shizuo was unpredictable. He had known that for a long time. The man often did things, that the raven couldn't understand at all. The moment he thought, that the blonde would snap, the man kept calm. The moment he thought, that the man would be naive enough to trust him blindly, he snapped.

Izaya didn't get it. What was wrong, that he couldn't tell Shizuo's actions before they happened. There was only one reasons: Izaya had actually been stupid enough to fall in his ideal of a monstrous Shizuo, that wasn't fitting the real one at all. In other words: He didn't know the real Shizuo at all.

The raven still tried to find any logic in his actions. If the blonde was really cleverer than he had expected, the man would never act that way just because of a small _similarity. _

"I see. But that's not really a reason, why you're still helping me, is it?" he finally asked. From himself thinking about it, he wouldn't get any answers. Rather should he try to ask the man directly.

Shizuo had just said it - they had already started the shit.

So why hesitate? Their relationship had done that step already.

"Let's just say I want to get some answers and I don't want you to get hurt." the blonde said still keeping his calm.

Shizuo thought, that his arguments were more than clear. He had told the raven several times, that he wanted to know what was actually going on- so that shouldn't be a problem. But when he thought about the end of his sentence, he could curse himself immediately.

For him it was already a fact, that he didn't want to get Izaya hurt again after that night. Well, to only "hurt" him would be more or less still ok for him, because he knew that Izaya wasn't weak - especially after what he had just seen the raven doing with the Katana. But the man had been shot the last time Shizuo hadn't been there and he saw a high probability that the Informant would be going to die unnoticed by him, if he wasn't going to help him.

Therefore he had just said those words, not thinking about the fact, that for Izaya they could mean something totally different.

He could already slap himself, when the raven began to shout in an angry tone again.

"What?! Don't you hate me? Why wouldn't you want me to get hurt? I would finally disappear from Ikebukuro. That's what you have always wanted! Isn't that just perfect for you?"

_No. Because I think ... I started to care for you, Izaya. _

Of course, Shizuo would never say those words to Izaya out loud. Though for a short moment, he was actually thinking about it, because Izaya's words were spoken by an angry, but also desperate voice.

This whole situation meant indeed a lot to Izaya. Shizuo had got that much. So why was the man still wasting time by starting such a conversation?

"Yes, but who else would give me some answers, if you were going to die, Izaya?" the blonde replied instead.

"But..."

"No "but", Izaya! Do you want me to help you or not?"

Shizuo shouted the words. His tone was becoming angry, when he started to get annoyed by the unnecessary topic. He would discuss things like that with Izaya later, but not now. He hadn't come here for this. What he wanted were answers.

Why was Izaya so angry at that man?

Why had he been hurt that night?

And why had he changed so rapidly?

After the blonde had his answers to those questions, he would gladly discuss their relationship with the raven - but not now.

The warehouse fell silent again for a moment. Both of them were staring into each other's eyes. Shizuo's face was expressionless, while Izaya's was a mix of confusion, anger and ...shame?

Shizuo wondered.

After a while the raven looked to the ground, before he replied with quiet voice: "Yes. Thank you, Shizu-chan."

It seemed, that Izaya was indeed ashamed by his behavior - or by the situation. However, the way Izaya acted - kind of uncertain - was pretty cute in Shizuo's opinion. Though the blonde decided to not make a fuss out of it and just act normally.

"You're welcome. Alright then, where do we have to go?"

And with that they walked out of the warehouse into the direction of their target.

* * *

Izaya had called them a taxi, that was supposed to bring them into the city centre. The address, Izaya had seen on the display, was the one of a famous hotel in Tokyo. He should have suspected that before. Hotel rooms were pretty popular under Yakuza staffs. Either they decided on an isolated area or house, that belonged to their organizations, or they decided on hotel rooms, that were central enough to expect anything to happen, but not conspicuous enough to give someone stupid ideas. After all, it wasn't really the cleverest idea to start a fight inside a populated area. Especially if guns were used, the police would be faster at the location than they would be able to get away.

Izaya was already thinking how they were supposed to face Goro and his staffs. Shizuo's way of fighting wasn't discreet and it was possible that he could attract a lot of people throwing furniture around.

The message he had received said that Goro had rented the penthouse. That would probably ease the things a bit and give him and Shizuo a bit of time, but still he had to take precautions.

The raven dialed Namie's number. The woman was a pain in the ass, but when he had told her, that she would get trice her wage, if she stayed later that night, she had accepted very fast. Still she seemed to be pretty pissed, when she answered the call.

"What do you want?" she spit with her usual tone, including no friendliness at all.

Normally Izaya would mock her now to make her even more pissed than she already was, but he knew, that now wasn't the right time for that.

"Namie, I will send you an address. I want you to hack the back-up systems of the CCTV's around the area and to disable them. Be very thorough, but hurry a bit." the raven said.

"Fine. Don't get yourself killed. I want to be paid for sure for this fucking night." and with that she hang up.

Izaya had to smile at her last words. Although Namie was always mean towards him and liked to make him feel like the worst shit in the world, she sometimes showed that she still cared for him - somehow. At least this was what Izaya liked to think.

_Probably it's really only the money she cares about._ He thought ironically, still the smile on his face didn't vanish.

"Who was that?"

Shizuo, who was sitting next to him in the back of the taxi, had listened to the conversation.

"Namie. She's working for me. You might have seen her once." the raven answered putting the phone back into the pocket of his coat.

"What about the cameras?"

"I told her to disable them, because I don't want anyone - especially the police - to find out about us."

"But where's the problem? I destroyed a lot of stuff in this city, and I never had any problems with the police because of that."

_Except for the one time, you blamed me for shit I haven't done. _he thought.

"That's because, I'm the one, who paid for all the things you destroyed." Izaya said in a normal tone, as if it would be the most normal thing in the world.

Shizuo on the other hand was astonished. "What do you mean by "you paid"?"

Izaya looked Shizuo directly in the eyes being amused about this one's surprised tone.

"I mean, that the government decided to send me all the bills for your destruction. Streetlamps, cars, street signs, bins, vending machines - I'm the one, who had to pay for them all. They argued that most of the times I'm the reason for your outbursts. That's why I'm also responsible for the destruction."

Shizuo couldn't believe it. All this time he hadn't wasted a thought to the fact, that he had never received a bill or any warnings from the government. Now that he thought about it, it was indeed strange. But if Izaya really paid everything, it would make sense.

"How much?" the blonde asked wearing a serious expression.

The Informant raised an eyebrow.

"How much I paid? Believe me, Shizu-chan, you don't want to know. It's more money than you could make in thousand years. However, it's not important. I'm gaining a lot of money, so it's not a problem for me." The raven gave Shizuo a slight smile, that made the blonde's heart jump for a moment.

"And to come back to your earlier question. I don't want the police to find out about us, because I don't know what's going to happen. I can ensure you, that I will try to kill Goro, if I get the chance. You can try to stop me, if you want."

Izaya was talking about the fact, that he was going to kill someone, as if it was no big deal at all.

Shizuo wondered, if it was morally still a problem for him. The blonde was sure, that the man Izaya had stabbed with his sword was dead by now. On the other hand, the man had been shooting at Izaya in that very moment and if the raven hadn't fought he would have been killed in that very moment.

The Informant had just protected himself by that, Shizuo was sure, but there was a difference in protecting oneself and planning to kill someone.

But what had he expected?

He had seen Izaya's wrath and he had heard him say, that this man was owning him a life. What else should that mean than that Izaya was planning to kill him?

Shizuo decided to wait for a decision. After all, it wasn't like him to think before acting. He would decide, when he met that Goro-guy, if this man indeed deserved death or not.

All those things were going through his head, while the raven kept talking.

"But whatever's going to happen, the police is _not_ stupid enough to bring the destruction of the hotel and a dead body lying in it_ not_ in relation. And, well, I don't want to be mean, but if they see us walking in there together, they will definitely know, that you were the one who destroyed everything. After all, you're the only one who can leave a scene like that." the Informant ended, a little smile appearing again on his face.

Shizuo knew, that Izaya was right. No one but him was able to leave such a trace of destruction. He had known that for a long time. Still he didn't know, if he should be happy about the man's assumption or if he should be angry at the raven.

After all, Shizuo hated violence. But he wasn't stupid. Sometimes you needed it to fulfill your wishes or desires. And sometimes only violence could wake people up - people, that didn't understand words. And of course, violence was the only way for Izaya to get rid of his wrath.

_Just like me. _Shizuo thought again, but decided to stay silent, until they would arrive at their destination.

* * *

It would have been pretty easy to find out, where Akihiro Goro was. Although they already knew, that Goro was in the penthouse, the hotelier just told them the same thing. However, Izaya would have known that anyway - as if a rich bastard like Goro would be satisfied with a normal hotel room.

Izaya tensed. His anger was boiling inside of his body and it grew stronger with every second he got closer to his goal. He feared that his wrath was influencing his sense for reality- because he knew that this was _indeed_ insane_, _what he and Shizuo were about to do.

He didn't know, how many people where there. He didn't know whether they were armed or not. But the fact, that they were Yakuza staffs, made it highly possible. Still the raven couldn't oppress the impatience inside of him. He wanted to stab his sword inside that bastard's breast. He wanted to scrape out the man's eyes and cut off his tongue. He wanted to hear the asshole scream in agony and pain, begging for mercy, lost in hope.

Izaya's hands tightened around the sheath of his sword, until his knuckles turned white.

Shizuo hadn't said anything, since they had entered the hotel. He had overheard the conversation between the hotelier and Izaya. This raven had told the man, that they were business partners of Goro and had a belated meeting with him. The hotelier was either stupid or very naive, because he just told them, that the penthouse was reachable with the lift on the 20th floor.

Shizuo followed Izaya into the lift, not saying anything. However, somehow he regretted this decision, because when the door closed, he noticed the dark and scary aura around the raven next to him.

Shizuo's skin crawled. He eyed the raven carefully from the side, not wanting to gather this one's attention.

Had he had that aura before?

Shizuo was sure, that he would have noticed it while sitting next to the man in the taxi. Somehow, Izaya had changed again, when they had entered the lift.

The aura reminded him of what he had seen in Izaya's eyes, when they had talked about that man _owning him a life -_ that was Goro, Shizuo was sure. However, last time this sensation had just lingered in the raven's red eyes - but this time it was electrifying the whole cabin of the lift.

Izaya's body was tensed, his hands strained and he was staring obstinately at the lift's door with wrath filled eyes. The blonde could almost see the anger, that was raising inside of the Informant. It was as if the fury was radiating around the man, being close to explode every second.

Shizuo didn't know, what to say. Was there even anything he could say? He still didn't know, what Akihiro Goro had done to Izaya, so there wasn't anything, he could do to calm the raven's anger.

Still, if Shizuo had been of the opinion, that Izaya's eyes from earlier were the scariest thing he had ever seen in his life, he had been wrong - this aura right now was much worse.

Desperately he looked up to the red numbers, showing which floors they were passing.

_12_

Shizuo sighed mentally. He wanted to get out of there. This whole situation was frightening.

_15_

Actually, his thinking was pretty stupid. Izaya was busy with his anger right now and wasn't noticing him at all.

Shizuo knew, that Izaya wasn't angry at him - that Izaya was indeed the one, who trusted in Shizuo right now to help him. And the blonde was sure, that the raven wouldn't attack him in the near future.

_18_

Still he felt, that something else in their relationship had changed. Before the night one week ago, Shizuo had thought of Izaya being an evil, emotionless bastard. After that night, he had seen Izaya a lot more human and probably fragile than before. But after what had just happened in the warehouse, his view had changed again. Seeing Izaya fighting had shown him, that the man must have gone easy at him all these years. The raven had never fought _him _with a katana - he didn't even hurt him _serious _with his little switch blades. The blonde was sure of that. The Informant had fought in a tempo, he had never used against Shizuo during their fights. And if he had, Shizuo was sure, the raven would have put some serious injuries on his body.

The blonde had just recognized something, that he somehow had never noticed before. Izaya was _fucking _dangerous. And right now, Shizuo was happy, that he wasn't the guy, Izaya's anger was aimed at.

_20 _

Shizuo gasped, when he stormed out of the lift. He hadn't even noticed, that he was holding his breath. But a great relief spread through his body, when the clear air - that wasn't filled with Izaya's angst-inducing aura- hit his face.

However, the moment he wanted to look back for the raven, this one was just storming past him, promptly saying: "You're waiting here."

Shizuo couldn't believe his ears. _Wait_?! Izaya had asked him to come here and _wait_?! Was this guy kidding him?!

The blonde already wanted to protest, but the raven, who was walking along the floor into the direction of a door at the end of it, interrupted him: "Keep watch. If something unexpected happens, follow me."

The Informant's tone was neutral, but didn't let any room for replies either. Therefore Shizuo decided to wait and watched the man approaching the big door with eager steps. It was a weird scene, that he was just experiencing. The floor was beautifully decorated. The walls were in a nice red, that was lighten up by a few lamps standing on small chests of drawer. You could almost call the scene romantic. If there only wasn't Izaya dressed totally in black, holding that katana -also in a black sheath- in his right hand. There were silver letters on the side of it, that Shizuo hadn't seen before- but now, because they were reflecting the little lights along the small floor. However, the black figure of Izaya standing inside of this comfortable furnishing, gave it an ironic touch.

Izaya meant danger and this scene was just illustrating it perfectly.

_It might be even more frightening, if I were to see his face right now. _Shizuo thought happily that he was only staring at the man's back for the moment.

Izaya paused in front of the door. He was concentrating on the people behind it and didn't even waste a thought to the fact, that Shizuo really did, what he had told him to do.

He knocked it two times, before he hid his hand in the inside of his coat. His other hand was still holding the Katana at his right side.

The raven tried to wear a very innocent expression on his face, because he knew that the guys, who might be about to open the door, could see him through the peephole. His assumption was proven, when a voice from the other side of the door asked harshly: "Who are you? And what do you want?"

Izaya forced an admirable smile on his face, although he was already imagining how to kill the man, that was talking to him in such an unfriendly way.

"Today our hotel is celebrating its 50th anniversary. In celebration of the day, we are giving awesome presents to our most respected guests." He replied in a happy voice.

For a moment nothing happened. He could only hear low voices talking behind the door, but he didn't understand a word of what they were saying.

His hand tensed inside his coat.

He kept the smile on his face just for the case, that the man would look at him again. The raven was celebrating mentally, when he heard that a key was turned around.

Just at the moment, that the door was opened, his faked smile became a devilish grin. The man in front of him didn't even know, what was happening. The guy was smiling, too - probably expecting, that he was really going to get a present. However, Izaya didn't care.

The door wasn't even totally open, when he pulled the black firearm from under his coat and pointed it at the man's face. This one just opened his eyes in shock, before the bullet came through his brain and blood spitted all over the bottom behind him.

The man fell to the ground behind him and Izaya started shooting in the room, trying to hit as many as possible.

Shizuo was still waiting at the other end of the room, when he heard the first shot. Izaya's figure was blocking his view to the door. That's why he couldn't see, where the shot had come from.

Was Izaya hurt?

Shizuo already feared the worst, but then he saw Izaya going into the room without him. That guy wasn't waiting for him! Slowly but surely the blonde got pretty pissed at the raven's egoistical behavior.

Suddenly a great exchange of fire started and his anger completely disappeared.

All those shots and Izaya was in the middle of it!

Serious worry rose inside of Shizuo's chest and without hesitating he grabbed next to him - to the nearest thing that was around - and ran into the direction of the door.

When he came into the door frame, he saw at least three guys standing there with guns in their hands.

_What the fuck?! _

Fortunately it had been the lift's door, that he had pulled out before running into the room. When the men started to fire at him, he could just pull it in front of him. The bullets were repelled by the massive metal of the door, but the situation still wasn't solved.

_Couldn't the flea at least tell me that something like this would happen?!_

Shizuo cursed. The raven was the one, who knew everything about all those battle strategies and how those bastards were fighting. Also in the warehouse Izaya had been the one to decide how to fight them. Shizuo had just trusted the Informant, because - though he was fighting regularly - he wasn't practiced in fighting Yakuza. Shizuo was the one, who would normally go out of their way - as long as they would go out of his way. Only once he had fought against a man with a gun. And at that time, he was defeated, because he hadn't expected it.

However, right now he couldn't move at all, because if he removed the door, those bullets would just come through his body and then he would be - he was pretty sure - dead. Shizuo knew, that he was strong, but he wasn't made of metal.

Did the flea actually think about something like that?! Where was that louse anyway?

When Shizuo started to wonder, where the pest had gone into the room, something at his side was moving. He looked to his left side and saw Izaya, who was hiding behind some kind of bar, standing up and starting to shoot at the guys, who were at the moment concentrating on him.

The raven managed to hit one of the guys at the shoulder, but right in that moment the other two guys were aiming at the Informant again.

Shizuo decided to use the moment of carelessness as a chance and threw the lift's door at the man, Izaya had just hurt, because this one had started to fire again. It knocked the man out by kicking him through the whole room.

He moved fast right after, because he didn't want to be shot by one of the other two. Just when those were pointing at him again, he managed to jump behind the bar, where Izaya was hiding.

The blonde wasn't sure, but the fact that the amount of shots had decreased, told him that the other man - he threw the door at - had indeed fallen unconscious.

When he had calmed down a bit, he looked to the raven next to him, who was _indeed_ holding a gun in his hand - ready to shoot again.

Had Izaya been the one to start the fire exchange?

_Most probably. _Shizuo thought just before he wondered, if the man had had the gun already in the warehouse. Really, where did this thing come from?

"Flea, what's with this gun?" he shouted to the man. Although only mere centimeters were separating them, the shots of the other two were creating a pretty high noise level.

The bullets were hitting either the wood of the bar, the bottom, the wall behind them or the shelf at the wall, that was filled with glasses. Those were scattered by the bullets and the broken pieces were falling down on them while hiding behind the bar and the shelf.

"Seriously, Shizu-chan? Now's not the time to ask something like that! We should rather find out how to get rid of those bastards!" the raven shouted back.

The katana was lying next to him, but he wouldn't be able to avert the bullets again. Izaya couldn't just stand up and shoot without risking to be shot himself.

Suddenly he noticed a small reduction of shots. Was he mistaking or did one of the guys stop shooting?

He crawled along the bar ignoring Shizuo's weird stares. His hands and knees were cut open by the broken glass lying on the ground - but he couldn't go too far away from the bar without risking to be shot.

The Yakuza members were mostly aiming at the places above the bar, because they were expecting that one of them would raise his head any moment. That's why Izaya dared to peep out at the side of the bar, only to see the unbelievable.

Though Akihiro Goro was shooting regularly in his direction, he was taking a few steps to the side into the direction of the door - definitely trying to flee.

_This bastard! _

Fury rose inside of him when the thought appeared inside of him, that this asshole would actually be able to get away - after what he had gone through to find the bastard.

Without thinking about it Izaya stood up and tried to run after Goro, but in his rage he had totally forgotten about the other man.

_Damn it! _he cursed when this one aimed directly at him.

The raven managed to jump to the side, before the first bullet could hit him, but now he was standing freely in the room - nowhere to hide.

His knuckles were already turning white again, when he grabbed the katana harder - preparing to use it any second.

But before he could do so, Shizuo - Izaya had totally forgotten about the blonde - grabbed the fridge that was standing close to the bar and threw it at the man, who was aiming at Izaya's head just at the moment.

This one hadn't expected it either, when he turned his head to the roaring blonde right before his head was hit by the fridge. It kicked the man through the room making him land on the desk between a couple of couches.

Shizuo had jumped out of his hiding place to knock the guy out, who was about to kill Izaya. He hadn't even thought about what he was doing, when the thought hit him, that Izaya was going to die in front of his eyes.

A smile started to spread around his face, when he happily wanted to turn his head to Izaya and talk to him - only to notice that he had forgotten about an essential thing: There was still someone left.

Before he could even see Izaya, the man's face was in his field of view, an arrogant smile showing while his gun was pointed at Shizuo's head.

They were too far away from each other and the blonde wouldn't be able to reach anything around him in time.

_That's it? _

The thought hit him unexpectedly. Probably this was all going really fast, but he didn't think of things that he was supposed to think at a moment like this - in his opinion.

Maybe he should have felt fear or think of his little brother, but his last thought was actually about Izaya. Was the raven going to be okay?

_Ironical._ That he was thinking about his long life arch-enemy in a moment like this.

Just in the second, that he could swear that he saw the man pulling the trigger, Izaya's sword rushed down the hand.

* * *

**Reviews plz**


	6. Chapter 6: Breakdown

**Hey there, I'm back again! xD**

**This Chapter includes torture marked with "oOo". If you don't want to read the cruel part, just skip it then. **

**Enjoy reading! **

* * *

**Chapter 6: Breakdown**

The blade just cut through the flesh and the easy breakable bones of a wrist. It severed the hand from the body with the greatest of ease . Blood was gushing out the stump and painted the ground red. The small impact of a gun on the ground was merely audible, when Akihiro Goro started to scream in agony.

Izaya kicked the gun to the other side of the room, though he highly doubted that Goro would be able to take it again. The man was lying on the ground twisting in pain. One hand was pressing against the blood spattering stump. Eyes were screwed up and his awful screams were filling the room.

Shizuo looked stunned at the scene in front of him. Izaya was just standing there with the blood dripping sword in his hands. Small driblets were running down it and leaving spots on the ground, while the raven just stared at the man, who was painfully screaming and twisting in front of him.

Shizuo couldn't see Izaya's face. He wondered what expression the raven was showing at the moment.

Fury? Relief? Happiness?

The Informant was most probably showing the wrath, the blonde had just felt before in the lift. He supposed that the man on the ground (probably the only one still living) was Akihiro Goro. He couldn't be sure, but the way Izaya acted - the way he was just standing there doing nothing - told him that he was most probably right.

He scrutinized the man. He was old, at least older than them, maybe in his forties - noticeable because of the grey-whitish hair, that was hanging in small strains in his face. Glasses were covering his eyes, still he could clearly see, that the man was closing them in utter pain.

His face was lined- though he wasn't sure if it was caused by his age or because he was contorting it with pain.

It wasn't new for him to see someone in such a pain. Shizuo had done cruel things, too. Like breaking bones or smashing heads leaving people in agony. However, this was the first time he saw someone getting a hand cut off.

Just then he noticed that this was already the second time that Izaya had saved his life. Twice a day.

The first time he hadn't really apprehended it.

Did this mean, that he was owning something to the flea now?

On the other hand he had saved the flea's life too, when he had thrown that fridge at the other guy. But in the warehouse only Izaya had saved him. With that it stood two to one. Damn it!

But if this was indeed a partnership, then it was more than normal, right? - To save his partner's life.

He was pulled out his thoughts, when Izaya was finally turning around to him.

The blonde's eyes widened.

Not the expected wrath was marking the Informant's face, but what was facing him was nothing less than sadness.

Izaya's eyes were shining in a way that seemed as if he was close to crying. The sight was causing a sharp pain inside the blonde's chest.

What was that? The raven was looking at him as if this was the very end. The deepest sorrow, a human soul could possibly endure, was lingering in those eyes. Just like in that night which had changed everything for him.

Was there anything Shizuo could do to ease this feeling? This feeling that was capturing the raven like a second skin radiating his whole existence? Would there ever be something he could actually do to make it stop?

"Izaya-"

"You should better leave now, Shizu-chan." Izaya said softly and a sad smile appeared on his face. The sad tone only increased Shizuo's worry.

_Like hell I could leave you now, flea. _The blonde thought. This wasn't supposed to happen. He was supposed to stay at Izaya's side. It wasn't the partnership they had just formed that made him feel that way, but the sole sense of affiliation he was feeling for the raven.

"Why are you saying this?" he asked.

If it was even possible the expression became even sadder, almost breaking Shizuo's heart.

"I'm going to do something really bad. And you should not see this, Shizu-chan."

The words were so calmly and softly spoken that it made Shizuo's body grew hot. The raven was unexpectedly gentle with him.

Was this the way how it felt to be with Izaya on friendly terms? The raven speaking softly to him, as if he wanted to protect Shizuo from a bad sight? As if he was really caring? No hate, no contempt- but only pleasant gentleness?

_So cute. _The blonde was startled about his own thought for a moment.

Wasn't he thinking those things quite often lately when it came to Izaya and his various expressions?

How could the flea show all those different expressions in only one night anyway?!

One moment he scared the shit out of him, the next moment he acted cute enough to make his heart throb rapidly.

"What do you intend to do?" the blonde asked despite knowing the answer.

He was surprisingly calm though.

All of this felt new to him.

Was it supposed to make him angry? Probably. This was one of the moments when he should normally get angry. But all of this wasn't directed at him. Actually it had nothing to do with him. He had helped the raven out of curiosity and worry, but he had no relation to any of these - except for his relationship with Izaya.

And it wasn't his turn. Now was Izaya's time to be angry. Shizuo knew that. How long must have the raven oppressed those feelings, that Shizuo hadn't even noticed them once?

"I need some answers. And I will force Goro to give them to me." Was the raven's reply.

That was a nice way of describing it, Shizuo thought. He knew that Izaya was going to kill the man. Yes, he was sure.

But Izaya deserved his revenge. Or at least he deserved to get rid of his fury. Just like Shizuo himself, whenever he felt the need to do so.

Furthermore Izaya had risked his life for this moment. If it hadn't been his expression to show the truth behind the Informant's feelings, then it was finally this sole fact. For Izaya, this was the moment for revenge and he had willingly risked his life to get the chance to take it.

Understanding that Shizuo didn't really have any right to interfere with that, did he?

"I understand. I'm staying though." he said and gave the raven a warm smile.

He could swear that the red eyes were just shining a little brighter before Izaya returned the smile to him.

To Shizuo the moment felt longer than it actually was. In a strange way he felt connected to Izaya in that very moment. It felt strange, but good though - making his face heat up.

Then the raven finally turned around to face Goro.

**oOo**

Izaya's knuckles were turning white from the way he was grabbing the sword in his right hand.

"Akihiro Goro" he said approaching the man who was still lying on the ground. This one just kept twisting in pain according to his missing hand. He didn't answer the raven's question - either because he didn't hear it being lost in pain or he was just ignoring the raven.

The only things said were insults calling the Informant "bastard", " asshole", "whore" and whatever came into the man's disturbed mind.

Standing right in front of the man and watching the man's face, Izaya couldn't understand himself how he himself could still act so calmly. Knowing that he had searched this man for years, he felt the strong need to just ram his sword into his chest and knock every bit of life out of the man.

But he knew, that he needed answers. Those answers were the only reason, why he hadn't already killed the bastard. The raven knew, that he had messed up when he had killed Jirou, so now was the time to do this the right way.

However, it didn't mean that he couldn't enjoy this a bit.

"Akihiro Goro" he said again.

This time the old man in front of his feet was actually turning towards him. The pain was still left on his face, but now a grimace of anger was dominating his expression.

"Fuck you, you piece of shit! DIE!" Goro just screamed into the raven's face.

However, it didn't cause any reaction. Izaya was just looking back as cold as before.

"Listen, Goro. My name is Izaya Orihara. Years ago you have conducted a job together with Jirou Ishii and three other men. I already killed Jirou. I want you to tell me the names of the other three. If you do that, I promise that I will give you a fast death."

The man wasn't even considering Izaya's offer. Without hesitation he spat at the raven's face. A crazy laugh was following the action, but Izaya didn't act at all at first.

Watching the man with cold eyes, he just wiped the saliva off with his free hand.

"Well, you didn't want it any other way." the Informant just replied coldly.

Not one second later he swung his sword down Goro's other arm. This one yielded just as easy as the other one, when the bones broke and flesh was being torn open. Blood was splashing out again covering the bottom in an awfully high amount of red. Again painful screams were heard being in no way inferior to the ones before.

Rolling from one side to another in pain, Goro screamed again only insults against the raven. Even when Izaya asked again for the names he wanted to hear, the man just damned him and ignored any further tries.

The old yakuza was indeed not easy to break.

_Well, his body is more or less_ ... the raven thought eyeing the blood dripping sword in his hand.

He would have to hurry up with this. Goro was screaming so loud, that there should already be people who heard him. Actually Izaya was surprised, that someone hadn't already entered the penthouse.

It was hard to stay so composed. He could feel his blood boil with hatred and every muscle in his body tensed with anger.

Scrutinizing the man's face again, he decided to use another method.

He put the sword he was still holding on the bottom next to him and slowly approached Goro.

This one widened his eyes in fear, but he fell suddenly totally silent when the raven used one hand to softly touch his chin and raise his head.

Goro's grey eyes were just staring with a mix of confusion and terror into Izaya's red ones and the soft smile that were shown on the raven's face was making his skin crawl.

Slowly the other hand was raised to his head, gently taking off Goro's glasses and putting it to the side.

This smile on the raven's face was freaking the man out. Not because it was crazy or malicious or whatever a smile should be at a situation like this, but because it was totally genuine. The raven looked happy, or more at ease with this -like other people were looking when they were enjoying the sunlight or their free time.

Not knowing if it was the lost of blood or this smile that drove him insane, Goro just screamed again a final "FUCK YOU" into the raven's face.

He totally didn't expect the next thing that happened. Acting so gently he had had at least a little hope that the raven would spare him, but then after his last insult this one started to stab his fingers into Goro's left eye.

A silent scream was already leaving the man's mouth, when he felt the skin around his eye being pushed back, but the real scream only came free, when the raven managed to pull out Goro's eye with one swift movement.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

The scream in agony filled the room letting all other noises die out. This was the real pain. Goro understood now. There was no way he would survive this day. There was no way the raven would ever spare him.

No, this smile the raven was showing and the sight in his red eyes - Goro knew it from the start. This man loved seeing him suffer and there was no way of stopping him.

"Tell me the names, Goro, and all of this will end." The raven said softly already expecting the man to give up now.

"I don't know what you mean." this one answered to the raven's great disappointment.

Izaya sighed. Well, this was a real answer at least, but was this man actually kidding him?!

Izaya knew that Goro knew exactly what he was talking about and now this bastard was actually trying to take him for a fool!

_This stupid old bastard! _Izaya cursed mentally. He had given the man a chance. He had given him the opportunity to face a nice death and now this man was - after all - trying to trick him with that lame excuse.

_Don't you dare!_

Izaya thought he had done a fucking great job to control his wrath and not kill this bastard right away, but this shit the guy was telling him, made him almost lose it.

"You dare to lie to me, you ass?! Do you really think I'm stupid enough to believe that shit?!"

He screamed the words and the coldness from before was completely gone, when his face became red from anger and his bloody hands were clenched to fists.

Angst-inducing Izaya's red eyes were piercing through Goro's head making the man flinch in fear.

"No, please don't take the other eye, too!" he said unsteady. He couldn't believe that this was really happening? Was this man actually torturing him to death? Or was this all just a dream from that he could only hope to awake soon?

The malicious grin that appeared on the man's face freaked him out. First emotionless, then gently, then angry and now evil - this raven-haired man showed so many different expressions that you didn't know if this was all a game or if the man had just become insane.

"Aw, don't worry, Goro. I won't take your one eye. Because if I did, you couldn't see what I'll do to you next, right?~" the raven chuckled cruelly causing the hairs on Goro's body to stand up.

Akihiro's vision was already beginning to become blurry. The amount of blood he had lost was enormous and it was a wonder, that he could still probably hear and talk.

At this rate he was actually thinking that there wasn't much left, that the raven could do to him. He had already hurt him in the cruelest ways he could imagine and he was sure, that he wouldn't still live in a few minutes, therefore he had lost too much blood.

Accepting his death wasn't really hard for him in this very moment. Goro had known from the very beginning that his way of life was a dangerous one and it was a miracle that he had survived into such a high age.

However, the way he died wasn't the one he had always imagined, maybe a shot in the head or in the chest, but not _this. _This was the worst, but he couldn't run away anymore. He was under the raven's mercy. Still he was a little proud of himself that he had endured the pain so far, without telling the raven a name.

_At least I still have my pride. _He thought ironically, before his eyes widened in shock.

The young man with the bloodlike eyes had taken out a little switchblade. The blade was softly running along his chest, then his belly. The raven didn't lose his malicious smirk that wasn't leaving his face at all. It was rather growing wider, with every little bit the blade came nearer to a specific spot at his lower body.

Goro's face paralyzed in pure fear.

This couldn't be true.

No, the raven ...

he wouldn't ...

Suddenly the Informant began to laugh hysterically. Throwing his head in the air, it grew louder and louder and Goro knew that the raven _would _do it.

"Ichiro ... Katsu ... " he whispered almost not hearable, when tears of fear began to form in his left eyes.

Goro thought the raven didn't hear it, but the hysterical laughter died out right in the moment he said the name. He slowly lowered his head, until his red eyes were watching Goro from above - with cold apathy.

"And?" he just replied waiting for the man under him to answer.

"There weren't more ..." this one just whispered already regretting his decision again.

The raven's expression grew ghastly by anger.

"DIDN'T I ALREADY TELL YOU THAT I KNOW, IT WERE THREE?!"

With one swift movement he rammed his switchblade into one of Goro's balls and turned it around.

"AAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

If he hadn't heard the screams before, Izaya would say, that this one was indeed the most painful one. However, he didn't care anymore. He had wasted way too much time for this man and now he didn't have the patience anymore to feel anything like pity - or rather feel anything at all expect for the wrath lingering in every cell of his body.

"GIVE ME THE NAMES OR I WILL TAKE YOUR WHOLE MANHOOD!" he screamed hoping that the man could still hear him.

"No..ri..o Sa..tosh..i" Goro managed to whisper. His face was awfully white at that moment caused by the enormous blood lost.

"AND THE LAST ONE?!" the raven screamed almost desperately. He knew that Goro was close to death, the man's body had already stopped moving at all. Only the slightly opened eyes were a proof for the man still living.

However, it didn't help. The last words were silently whispered, not hearable for the raven, most probably not even hearable for the man himself. Izaya didn't know, if it was the last name he wanted to hear or a final insult of the man, maybe he was even making up with god- the raven didn't know and he didn't particularly care, because all he knew was that he still didn't know the last name.

What he would never know, was that Goro's final words were actually meant as an apology for the job he had carried out with those three men fifteen years ago.

_"For...gi...ve m..e."_

**oOo**

Shizuo couldn't believe what he had just seen.

With wide eyes he was staring at Izaya's back, who was still sitting above Goro, fortunately preventing Shizuo's sight to fall on the fresh corpse.

Had the raven really just tortured the man to death?

Shizuo was happy that he couldn't really see anything from his spot, but the screams and words that had fallen, had given him enough of a picture what had happened.

When the blonde had seen Izaya throwing something red to the sight, he followed it's movement with curious eyes. When he had finally noticed, that it was indeed one eye of the man, the blonde had to suppress the urge to vomit.

Of course, he had done bad things, too, but something that cruel wasn't even a thing he had ever considered to experience, not to mention to do it himself.

But what had he expected to happen?

He had seen Izaya's wrath from the very beginning and knowing that Izaya wasn't an angel, he had already known that the raven would kill the man. The blonde just hadn't expected something that cruel.

Nonetheless he had just stood there, more or less watching the scene.

Should he have interfered?

He could have stopped the raven, that was sure.

But the more he thought about that, the more Shizuo knew that he wasn't in the place to do that. He knew, that something bad had happened between those guys giving Izaya the strong need to get his revenge under the risk of his life. Shizuo just understood that he didn't have the right to stop the man or to say anything to this at all.

But now Shizuo was drawn into this too and he knew that by having helped the raven Izaya owned him some answers.

He already wanted to ask the raven-haired man, but then his eyes widened in surprise, when he saw the back of the man going up and down.

Paying more attention to the man now he even heard the silent sobs of the man making Shizuo immediately understand in shock that the raven was crying.

The blonde didn't know what to do. Furthermore he didn't even know why the raven was crying.

Was it because he felt guilty because of what he had just done?

Or was it because of some other reason Shizuo couldn't understand according to his lack of knowledge about Izaya?

However, the blonde felt slightly embarrassed at the sight not knowing what to do.

Awkwardly he approached the young man, standing now only a mere meter away from him. He didn't dare to touch the raven though, because he was afraid to disturb the man's privacy. Oddly Shizuo had the feeling that he didn't have the right to talk to the raven now because of not knowing what the raven was going through.

But his worries that were constantly growing bigger, the longer he was watching the man cry, let him finally ask him.

"Izaya, are you all right?"

"Why ... didn't you go away?" This one asked under sobs almost making the blonde's heart break.

Nonetheless the question slightly enraged the blonde. After all that happened Izaya seemed to still not understand why Shizuo was here.

_Isn't it obvious, flea?_ The blonde thought perky, though he knew that the raven was most probably in an inner turmoil now not really watching what he was saying.

Still he couldn't understand these complicated up and downs with Izaya that seemed to never end.

At first his plan had been to wait for Izaya to be ready to give him some answers, but the blonde slowly grew annoyed by the raven's behavior. If he needed Izaya's miserable state now to get some answers, he would do it, because if he'd ask the raven again when this one was his usual self, he'd most probably don't get any answers anyway.

"If you didn't want me here, then why did you drag me into this anyway?" he asked almost expecting the man to just ignore him.

"I 've always ... just wanted you to be my friend ..." The words were pressed out between shaking lips, so that Shizuo first thought he had heard them wrong. But there was no doubt that Izaya had actually said it: _He wanted them to be friends ... _

That wasn't really the answer Shizuo had hoped for and he wasn't sure if the raven was saying it out of craziness, but it nonetheless caused him again to rethink his whole relationship with the raven.

Could that have really been his goal from the very first start?

Friendship?

The craziest thoughts raced through his head, while Izaya was still a quivering mess right before his eyes. Shizuo didn't know how to answer to that statement, because he was still too unsure when it came to the flea. In the past he had lied and tricked him definitely more than once but even Izaya wouldn't be able to lie in his current state, right? Not only his body was severely damaged from the week before but also his mind seemed to be in one hell of uneasiness.

"But why did you do all those things to me? I mean, you got me arrested and always tried to enrage me. What kind of try to become friends is that?"

He was still standing unable to move any nearer to the flea fearing that he could change his mind and suddenly start laughing hysterically again just like a few minutes ago.

After trying to finally stop his sobs Izaya straightened up and turned around looking Shizuo directly in the eyes.

Crimson eyes met hazel ones and Shizuo could see in them that Izaya was dead serious. He could see certainty in them and couldn't avert the thought that these eyes were indeed beautiful, a little reddened because of the earlier crying and the tears that were still forming in their corners.

Now that he noticed it, he'd always thought that his eyes were somehow mesmerizing.

_As if they could look right through me and could see more of me than I could have ever dreamed of knowing about myself ..._ The thought hit him faster than he even noticed it and he couldn't stop his face from reddening a bit.

"It's my way of trying to get attention! Sorry, that you dumb protozoan have never been clever enough to notice it! But how should I manage to get your eyes on me when you have always been just looking at someone else like Tom or Kasuka?!" Although he had seen Izaya's serious expression he hadn't expected his answer to be that angry.

Somehow it made him angry that Izaya was still talking to him as if nothing had happened between them, but then he reminded himself that after his words the raven also had more or less a reason to be angry at him.

And wasn't he right?

Shizuo probably really wouldn't have paid _that much_ attention to the flea if he hadn't constantly tried to anger him. But still, that wasn't any reason for all the shit the flea had done to him in the past. Just because he wasn't looking all the time at him but probably sometimes at someone else and ...

Wait! Did that just mean the flea was jealous? Of other people? Just because Shizuo was looking at _them _and not at _him_?

"Izaya, does that mean you're jealous?" The question slipped out of his mouth faster than he had actually thought about it and he regretted it immediately. He knew, right now wasn't the right moment for such a question because Izaya was somewhere near a mental breakdown, although it seemed that he finally started to calm down.

Furthermore he noticed that this wasn't the right place nor the right time for a discussion like that.

The screams and the gun fire from before should have attached enough attention. It was a miracle that the police wasn't hear already to arrest them.

Shizuo knew they had to get out of there fast.

Without a second thought he grabbed the surprised flea by the hand and ran.

* * *

**"Orihara Izaya to, Yuuyake wo" is giving my Izaya obsession so many feels x'(**


End file.
